It appears that the high-performance PC and server DRAM, DDR5, has successfully rebounded in price.
According to the industry on the 11th, market research firm TrendForce reported that as of the end of last month, the average fixed transaction price of PC DDR5 16Gb (gigabit) products was $3.80, an increase of 1.3% compared to the previous month.
The price of DDR5 has been on a downward trend since August last year but has entered a recovery phase after about seven months. DDR5 is sold at more than 30% higher prices than the older DDR4. TrendForce noted that, "While the price of the older DDR4 remains low, the price of DDR5 is on the rise," adding that "demand for DDR5 surged after the news from DeepSeek during the Lunar New Year holiday."
The production capacities of memory semiconductor corporations leading the DDR5 market, such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, concentrated on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) are also presumed to have impacted the rise in DDR5 prices.
An official in the semiconductor industry said, "The DDR4 market is being flooded with supplies from Chinese corporations, but DDR5 has major suppliers like Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron. As the three companies are focusing on supplying HBM, the supply of DDR5 is limited," and noted that "this will have a positive impact on the profitability of domestic memory semiconductor corporations."
Research Institute Lee Soo-rim of DS Investment & Securities explained, "In February, the fixed price of the DDR5 16Gb chip rebounded 1.3% compared to the previous month," and added, "The demand for DDR5-equipped servers will further increase in the second half of the year."