Market decline forecast following record years
Dylan McGrath, EE Times, SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19, 2018 –
DRAM will once again finish the year with the highest growth rate of any semiconductor product, though 2019 is shaping up to be a very different story, according to market research firm IC Insights.
DRAM is expected to finish 2018 with 39% growth, following up its 77% growth in 2017, IC Insights said. DRAM has once again benefited from a steady surge of rising average selling prices over the past two years amid a shortage in the market.
But the historically cyclical DRAM market appears to be headed for tougher times in 2019. After two strong years of growth, the world's leading DRAM suppliers – South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and U.S.-based Micron Technology – have significantly expanded their manufacturing capacity and are beginning to ramp up production, bringing relief to strained supplies, especially for high-performance DRAM parts, IC Insights said. Meanwhile, shipments of large-scale datacenter servers – the primary catalyst for much of the recent DRAM market surge – have begun to ease amid uncertain economic and trade conditions, the firm said.
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