14 DAY TRIAL // The computer memory market goes like all other markets through periods of expansion and contraction and while this fluctuation in small increments is normal, the situation during the last few months was far from normality. First of all the year started with some pretty high DRAM price tags all around the memory lines, from the value centered ones to the extreme performance memory modules.
As memory manufacturers and vendors tried to capitalize the high general price, an oversupply of DRAM modules hit the end user market and prices begun to sink. The problem is that all prices sunk so low and for such a long time that most manufacturers registered serious losses. Now, it looks as if the ascending trend is back once more and according to the DRAM manufacturer and vendor Nanya, cited by the news site DigiTimes, the price tag will continue its ascending course over a long period.
Pei-Lin Pai, vice president of global sales and marketing from Nanya, said that computer integrators are reluctant to adjust prices right now as the whole market is going through a weak transaction period on the spot market. This situation is generated by the general components shortage, at least on the mobile computers' market according to some analysts. Jance Lu,who is the general manager of memory-module house Power Quotient International (PQI for short), said that the back to school time that is fast approaching will most likely raise the price tag for the 512MB effectively tested (eTT for short) DDR2 memory that will be in strong demand.
Pei-Lin Pai predicted that the DRAM memory price trend will continue to grow in October and even November and it will hit another high point during the seasonal shopping period. At the same time the second half of August must not be seen as a setback Pai stressed as already memory shipments will still outgrow the ones registered during the last months.