According to the latest investigations by the DRAMeXchange research division of TrendForce, the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in considerably weakened shipment for most end products in 1Q20. However, the major NAND Flash suppliers already scaled back their CAPEX for this year, and the total bit output of the NAND Flash industry is expected to grow by only about 30% YoY in 2020, resulting in a 5% QoQ increase in NAND Flash ASP for the 1Q20 period despite the headwinds of the off-season.
The latest investigations by TrendForce show that the foundry industry benefitted from the previous quarter’s order fulfillment and client stock-up demands, with overall projected revenue undergoing a slight 2% dip QoQ but about 30% growth YoY in 1Q20 due to the comparatively lower 1Q19 base period. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic causes repercussions in global markets, and the economy enters a corresponding slowdown, the foundry industry now faces major uncertainties on the demand side, possibly slowing the industry’s future growth momentum.
The latest investigations from TrendForce finds that the top three IC design companies in 2019, Broadcom, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA, all exhibited decreased YoY revenues, significantly impacting global IC design revenue. Whether the industry can return to a state of growth will depend on whether the U.S. Department of Commerce expands its export restrictions and whether the COVID-19 pandemic can be sufficiently contained.
According to the DRAMeXchange research division of TrendForce, despite the apparent slowdown of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, the virus is now rapidly multiplying across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. Earlier, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, which poses dire, system-wide risks for the global economy. Similarly, the memory market may take a turn for the worse and go into a slump earlier than expected.
Citing the U.S. government’s JEDI contract as well as the increased need for telework due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the DRAMeXchange research division of TrendForce has now raised its previous forecast of 2Q20 server DRAM price trend from a 15% increase QoQ up to a 20% increase QoQ. The same uptrend is reflected in 2Q20 enterprise SSD prices as well, with the previous forecast of a 5-10% increase QoQ now corrected up to a 10-15% increase QoQ. In addition, memory suppliers are now facing low inventory levels, subsequently prompting them to maintain the 2Q20 price upsurge.
