Prices of RAM and SSD memory chips have increased sharply.

According to TrendForce's estimates, memory chip contract prices increased by as much as 20% in Q1 2024. This led the company to adjust its projected memory chip price increase to 13-18% in Q2, instead of the previously estimated slight increase of 3-8%.

Several unexpected factors have caused SSD and RAM prices to rise faster than anticipated.

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The upward trend in NAND flash memory prices is similar. In the first quarter, it increased by 23-28%, leading to estimates for Q2 2024 of around 15-20%, up from the previous estimate of 13-18%. The only positive aspect is that eMMC/UFS flash memory is expected to increase by only about 10% in Q2, although that is still a significant increase.

TrendForce attributes the Hualien earthquake in Taiwan on April 3rd to this sharp and uncontrolled price surge. Prior to the earthquake, the price of memory chips and flash memory was only expected to increase slightly due to existing inventory at PC manufacturers and buyers' unwillingness to accept continuous price hikes.

However, following the earthquake, PC manufacturers began to accept sharply increased contract prices for memory chips and flash memory due to various considerations. Particularly in late April, a new round of contract negotiations was completed, and price negotiations were finalized with increases far exceeding previous predictions. On one hand, manufacturers were willing to increase inventory levels; on the other hand, demand for AI (artificial intelligence) continued to rise.

It's particularly noteworthy that artificial intelligence has a high demand for high-bandwidth HBM memory, and original equipment manufacturers are expanding production. For example, Samsung's HBM3E uses an advanced process and will significantly expand production in Q3. This capacity is expected to account for approximately 60% by the end of the year, which will overshadow DDR5 production capacity and further drive up prices.

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Furthermore, AI inference servers are increasingly focused on energy efficiency, prioritizing enterprise-grade QLC SSDs. This type of drive will also account for a significant portion of production capacity, leading to a shortage of consumer-grade NAND memory.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/gia-chip-nho-ram-va-ssd-tang-manh-185240509141852198.htm