DRAM contract pricing rose over 10 percent in February

The price hike comes in the wake of increases in spot market pricing for PC-use DRAM, to US$1.50 for a 2Gb DDR3 chip for example, the sources indicated. The hike in PC-use DRAM price was because DRAM makers have allocated more capacity for making mobile RAM and server-use DRAM and therefore the total capacity available for PC-use DRAM has decreased, the sources pointed out. Samsung Electronics has left less than 20% of its total DRAM production capacity for PC-use DRAM and SK Hynix has allocated less than 50% of its total capacity, the sources noted. Due to worries about short supply, PC ODMs/OEMs have been willing to purchase despite the price hikes, the sources said.