Memory prices increase further in July, DRAM up by 7%

Memory prices increased in July compared to the previous month, according to DRAMeXchange.

Fixed PC DRAM (DDR4 8Gb) price was US$4.1 in July, a 7.89% increase from June.

Memory prices usually increase the most at the start of the quarter thanks to new contract negotiations.

In April, the fixed price of PC DRAM increased 26.67% from the previous month, the highest rate of increase since January 2017, when there was 35.8% month-to-month increase.

However, PC DRAM price is expected to drop in the fourth quarter, according to market research firm TrendForce.

This is because PC OEMs were readjusting their inventories, starting in July.

Prices of NAND also increased in July. The fixed price of 128Gb multi level cell (MLC) NAND increased 5.28% month-to-month to US$4.81.

The price is the highest since the September 2018, when their price was at US$5.07.

Single level cell NAND package die prices also increased between 3% to 6% in July compared to June.

MLC NAND prices increased between 5% to 8% over the same time period.

Memory makers were reducing their production capacity of the chips during the quarter, TrendForce noted.

Meanwhile, according to TrendForce, Samsung controlled 42% of the global DRAM market in the first quarter, followed by SK Hynix which had 29% market share.

In the same quarter, Samsung controlled 33.5% of the NAND market, followed by Kioxia, which had 18.7% market share.