Flash and NAND memory prices plummet Due to Lockdown

Memory prices have continued to fall since April, a trend that industry insiders say will continue through May and June. In this regard, global inflation, the Covid pandemic, and the uncertain geopolitical situation are good news.

According to the Taiwan Industry Service: DigiTimes the trend toward lower memory prices that has been going on for a few weeks is currently continuing. For example, the daily prices for 8Gb DDR4 chips traded on the so-called spot market have fallen by six to ten percent in the past month, after a somewhat smaller decline in March.

DDR3 memory is also getting cheaper despite poor availability

Prices for DDR3 chips have also fallen by seven percent since April, although poorer availability is now becoming apparent. Manufacturers, meanwhile, have been trying to keep prices stable for some time by limiting their production volumes, but with little success. Because there is currently a lot of uncertainty among PC manufacturers about the quantities they really need, they prefer to wait for price reductions.

The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the lockdown measures in China caused by the spread of the ommicron variant of the new coronavirus are currently causing a sharp drop in demand in the PC market. Once the situation stabilizes again, industrial sources expect more pressure from PC manufacturers, who will then have better arguments in their price negotiations.

NAND flash memory is also currently in a downtrend. Since April, prices for 3D TLC NAND have fallen by about six percent, as demand has also fallen for the reasons mentioned above. Demand for memory, especially for server and cloud computing applications, remains high, although there are also signs of declining buyer interest. This is also why Samsung was able to report record sales of its memory division recently.