Memory malaise not over yet

The line at ASML may get a little shorter now that the memory market is in free fall. Average prices for DRAM dropped 34.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, following a 31.4 percent fall in the quarter before, according to data from Trendforce seen by Bloomberg. The NAND flash market is experiencing similar dark times. “The memory chip industry is going through a historic decline in demand,” the press agency notes.

Presenting company results last month, CEO Peter Wennink showed that the share of the memory sector in ASML’s sales mix had increased YoY in both Q4 and the full year, despite less-than-rosy market circumstances. He speculated that memory makers were preparing for an upturn. Except for Samsung, however, most have cut down on production and capex by now, hoping to stop oversupply.

Prices of both DRAM and NAND will continue to fall through the first half of this year, Trendforce told the Wall Street Journal. DRAM prices are expected to drop sequentially by 20 percent in the first quarter and 11 percent in the second quarter. NAND flash prices are predicted to drop by 10 and 3 percent, respectively.