DRAM output in '13 forecast to rise 30%: report

TAIPEI -- Global output of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips is expected to grow 30 percent from a year earlier, thanks to rising demand, a research report said Thursday.

In the report, Taiwan-based market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp. said that following recent consolidation in the world DRAM business, the market has been tilting toward a balance between supply and demand.

TrendForce said that with many DRAM makers retreating from the production of commodity DRAM in reflection of slower PC business, supplies of those particular memory chips have been reduced significantly, making the overall DRAM market healthier than ever.

Under such favorable circumstances, the advisory firm has anticipated that production value of the global DRAM sector will total US$34.6 billion (NT$1.03 trillion), up about 30 percent from 2012.

On the back of the increasing popularity of mobile communications devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, production value of mobile DRAM chips is expected to rise 31 percent in 2013, TrendForce said.

The mobile DRAM segment could enjoy the highest year-on-year output increase among all of the DRAM segments, the advisory firm added.

TrendForce said the average selling price of DRAM chips in 2013 is expected to grow more than 6 percent from a year earlier as the impact of a supply glut in the industry eases.

The advisory firm said that with supplies of commodity DRAM chips on the decline, DRAM prices have moved sharply higher in recent months.

According to TrendForce, the average contract price of the benchmark DDR3 4GB DRAM chip in the first half of April rose more than 8 percent from the second half of March to US$25.5.

With supply on the rise, it is possible that the average contract price of the benchmark memory chips could hit US$30 in the near future, according to the research report.