The latest price report by DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, shows that the average contract price of DDR3 4GB fell 3% from US$19 in August to US$18.5 in September. According to DRAMeXchange Assistant Vice President Avril Wu, first-tier DRAM suppliers attempted to hold the price around US$20~21 in August, when the inventory level in the spot market was low.
China’s state-backed technology group Tsinghua Unigroup purchased a 15% majority stake in Western Digital, a major U.S.-based maker of data storage disk drives, on September 30. This latest investment deal will strengthen China’s efforts to develop its domestic ICT equipment industries as well as gaining an important prize within the rapidly growing industry of NAND Flash-related devices.
There has been an explosive growth in the number of 4G network users worldwide in 2015. According to TrendForce’s projection, the sales of the global 4G-enabled smartphones will reach 450 million units worldwide this year. The convenience and seamless connection of the mobile network encourages consumer usage, while the increasing penetration of 4G-enabled smartphones also drives user growth of 4G mobile networks.
The average monthly price of sapphire has fallen by more than 30% year on year this September, according to the latest 2015 Global Sapphire and LED Chip Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. This decline is the result of suppliers expanding their production capacities despite the weaker-than-expected demand.
