NAND memory prices continue to drop

The sources expect pricing in the 16Gb MLC segment to face a tough battle keep its prices above the US$5 level.

Apple has announced its MacBook Air equipped with a solid state drive (SSD), while Lenovo has also unveiled a SSD-equipped slim notebook model. But in general, SSD prices are still much higher than hard disk drives (HDDs) so SSDs have little chance to become the market mainstream in the near term, the sources commented.

The sources said demand for NAND flash products, including memory cards and flash drives, picked up after the Lunar New Year holiday last week. But a sharp increase in upstream NAND flash supply has created strong pricing pressure, the sources explained.

Prices for 8Gb MLC NAND flash has already dropped below US$3, while the 16Gb MLC segment is coming close to falling below the US$5 level, the sources said.