The price of generic DRAM has risen tenfold in a year. NAND flash prices have been on a rally for 16 consecutive months.
According to market research firm DRAMeXchange on the 30th, as of late April the average fixed transaction price for generic PC DRAM (DDR4 8Gb 1Gx8) was $16.00, up 23.08% from the previous month ($13.00). Compared with $1.65 in April last year, the price has risen about tenfold in a year. The average price of DDR4 was $13.00 last month, the same as in February, but it rose again this month.
TrendForce, the parent company of DRAMeXchange, expected DRAM prices to continue rising in the second quarter of this year. It projected that fixed transaction prices for PC DRAM in the second quarter would rise 43% to 48% compared with the previous quarter. However, TrendForce noted, "PC makers facing rising prices for various components can no longer bear excessive memory price hikes," and said the uptrend is likely to slow compared with the extreme seller's market in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year.
The April average fixed transaction price for generic NAND products for memory cards and USBs (128Gb 16Gx8 MLC) was $24.16, a sharp rise of 36.29% from the previous month ($17.73). This marks 16 straight months of gains. With demand for artificial intelligence (AI) surging and supply shortages worsening, prices for mature-node products such as SLC (single-level cell) and MLC (multi-level cell) each jumped by more than 50% and 35%, respectively.