Contract prices of DRAM have increased for the first time in two years and three months.
According to TrendForce, as of October 31, general-purpose DDR4 8Gb 16x8 2133MHz was priced at US$1.5, a 15.38% increase from the previous month.
Other DRAM prices also showed a 10% increase over the same time period.
From September to October, the price of 128Gb 16x8 MLC NAND was also at US$3.88, a 1.59% increase.
The contract prices for DRAM and NAND have not increased since July 30, 2021.
Contract prices are decided by suppliers such as Samsung and enterprise customers.
Once the contract price increases, it signals that the suppliers are at an advantage again.
The DRAM market is dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. These three had focused on reducing their production output up to the third quarter this year since demand began to nosedive in 2021.
TrendForce noted that in the fourth quarter, the suppliers will likely increase their DDR4 and DDR5 prices by up to 13% and 15%, respectively.
However, the analyst firm also noted that uncertainties remained up to the first half of 2024.
Meanwhile, in NAND, Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia, Western Digital, Micron, and YMTC compete and the market share difference between them is not as wide as in DRAM between Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron and the others.
