The DRAM market shows signs of a turnaround, raising expectations for a recovery in South Korean producers' earnings, data showed Monday.
Memory chips are among South Korea's main export items. The global price of DRAM chips suffered a fall for the 19th consecutive month since late 2014.
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Samsung Electronics' NAND flash memory chips (Yonhap) |
The spot price of the "DDR 512x8" chip, a flagship DRAM product, shifted to a rise from a decline as of June 6, according to Market tracker DRAMeXchange and industry sources.
The spot price would affect the contract price in the third quarter of this year, enabling the market to pick up, said DRAMeXchange.
The average price of DDR4 and DDR3 chips hit a bottom at US$1.30 and $1.25, respectively, in May.
The sales of two South Korean chipmakers -- Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc. -- plunged as well.
Nonetheless, their combined market share reached 74.4 percent in the first quarter, far higher than 18.8 percent of U.S. rivals and 6.8 percent of Taiwanese firms.
"The revenue of Samsung and SK will significantly recover, once the DRAM price goes up in the third quarter," a South Korean industry official said.
The expected upturn is attributable to a recovery in the PC production volume, the expansion of Chinese smartphone production and release of new iPhone smartphones.
The price of NAND Flash also seems to have stopped its steep decline in the second quarter, according to DRAMeXchange. (Yonhap)
