Although NAND flash demand fell by 5-10% in the first quarter due to seasonality, bit growth only increased by 8% QoQ as a result of suppliers slowing capacity expansion plans to decrese output. Thus, the sufficiency ratio fell to 2.8% in the first quarter, keeping NAND flash contract prices at a healthy level...
Looking at global mobile DRAM revenue in the second quarter, the Korean suppliers remain in the lead in terms of capacity and process technology, and their combined revenue represents 77.5% of the industry total. As the market oligopoly has been established, the mobile DRAM revenue ranking for the first quarter was similar to that of the previous quarter. The mobile memory market is not expected to see major changes until after the merger between Micron and Elpida is complete in the second half of the year...
DRAM spot price was strong in the first quarter; average DDR3 4GB contract price increased nearly 36%, from US$17.25 to US$23.5, while 2GB module price rose an average of almost 44%. From the market perspective, as top tier DRAM makers continue to shift production to mobile and server memory, commodity DRAM is forecast to account for 32% of total DRAM output this year, down from 44% in the fourth quarter of 2012. Beginning in the second quarter of 2013, mobile DRAM will replace commodity DRAM as the product category with the greatest share of the memory market...