The average contract price of 4GB DDR3 memory module rated to run at 1600MHz grew to $23.5, a 2.17% increase, in two weeks; the cost of an average DDR3 2GB module climbed to $14, a 1.82% increase, according to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce. The contract price of 4Gb DRAM IC capable of running at 1333MHz/1600MHz was $2.63 in the second half of March, whereas the DDR3 2Gb chip cost $1.31. The contract price grew because of increasing spot prices that reflect undersupply of DRAM on the market.
At press time, one untested [eTT] 2Gb DDR3 chip cost $1.573 on average at Taiwan's spot market, 2Gb DDR3 1333MHz/1600MHz chip's price was approximately $1.743/$1.70, whereas 4Gb DDR3 1600MHz memory IC was priced at $3.409 on average on the spot market.
Pricing of DDR3 memory is rising as manufacturers are shifting production allocation to more profitable memory types such as mobile memory.