This Week in EBN Daily News Digest Print Archives Search Electronics Industry News Broadcast Business Semiconductors Supply Chain Mgmt. Prices of many DRAMs have been in free-fall this past week, with some observers putting at least part of the blame on Intel Corp.'s inability to deliver enough Pentium III processors to meet the demands of PC makers. Dell Computer Corp. recently attributed a disappointing fourth quarter partly to a shortage of Intel microprocessors, and at least two sources now say that the processor shortfall also helped create an inventory bubble of DRAM, which is hurting prices.
DRAMs have their own pricing structures, and pricing is always fluctuating.
The Pentium III bottleneck was only one of several factors blamed for the recent DRAM dive. But DRAM prices could get a lift in the second half of the year due to seasonal high demand and the introduction of Windows 2000, which should boost the minimum system memory requirement to 128 Mbytes, said Oyama of ABN Amro. NEC Corp. is looking for ways to increase capacity as it prepares to merge its DRAM operations with Hitachi's DRAM division when the new fiscal year begins April 1. The two companies, both of which have lost much of their DRAM market share over the last several years, hope to capture 20 percent of the market. NEC expects Rambus will make up 5 percent of DRAM sales in the total market this year, but the company wants Rambus to account for about 10 percent of its own sales by year's end, the spokesman said.