Posted on Tuesday, June 23 2015 @ 20:16 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Contract pricing of DDR4 memory chips is dropping hard and is coming closer to DDR3 pricing. DigiTimes
notes one of the reasons for the sharp fall was the decision by Samsung to cut its pricing to increase its marketshare in the DDR4 space.
Meanwhile, system OEM vendors including data center and server companies have started to source DDR4 products from memory module makers for cost reasons, said the sources. Original DRAM vendors are also being requested to lower their quotes dragging down the overall contract prices further, the sources noted.
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While producing DDR4 chips is making less profits, some DRAM makers consider slowing down their technology transitions to 20nm process in order to reduce their capex, the sources said.
In addition, due to the poor yield rates some DRAM makers suffered previously at the beginning of their transitions to 20nm, some downgrade chips have been sold at a discount which could be a problem for the industry, the sources pointed out.
