The global DRAM market did not adhere to seasonal patterns in the fourth quarter – not only did notebook shipments not show the usual decline, but 47 million units were shipped, representing a slight increase for the quarter. Although contract prices had been decreasing since November, average contract price for the fourth quarter was higher than the previous quarter. Furthermore, top-tier DRAM makers are migrating to the 20nm and 25nm processes and the additional output resulted in an 8.0% QoQ revenue increase to US$13.0 billion, setting a new record for the highest revenue in a single quarter...
Looking at in the fourth quarter of 2014, OEM mobile device shipments peaked due to seasonality – the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in particular – contributing to balanced supply and demand for the NAND Flash market. NAND Flash suppliers experienced steady revenue growth, and operating margins were on par with third quarter figures...