DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, today reported that the average contract price of 4GB PC DRAM modules increased over 20% between September and October of 2016 (jumping from US$14.5 to US$17.5) as DRAM suppliers completed their fourth-quarter contract negotiations with first-tier PC-OEMs.
These increases come as the result of production capacity gradually shifting from PC-centric DRAM towards mobile and server DRAM, which have seen tremendous growths in demand. In fact, PC DRAM memory accounts for less than 20% of overall DRAM production. The already low inventories of branded device makers go hand in hand with higher-than-expected demand for DRAM-carrying products. And this higher demand comes after the PC DRAM market being severely undersupplied in the second half of 2016. The result: an across-the-board price upturn for all types of DRAM.
TrendForce reports that this DRAM price increase also stands as proof of the changing paradigm between the three top memory makers: Samsung, Hynix, and Micron, which TrendForce reports have "opted for co-existence as the best way to maximize their own profitability." They are, therefore, "turning away from aggressively competing for market share through price reduction and capacity expansion."
TrendForce's report goes on projecting that the top three suppliers will either keep their capital expenditures for 2017 at the same level as this year or lower their spending even further. And with the top players in the DRAM production business shifting their consensus from market leader to maintaining profitability, even further price hikes are expected during 2017.
20 Comments on PC DRAM Pricing Increased 20% Sep-Oct 2016; Will Continue Rising in 2017 - TrendForce
Still waiting for them to be sued...
price fixing lives on.
Same kit is around $250 now. Crazy.
(Wikipedia)
So vast pools of cheap, much improved but slower virtual memory are now more doable.
the following may help for comparison . so in short, it seems to me u can get 2005 ram speeds from virtual ssd ram.
NB, its version 1 of this trch, so we can expect better than 3.2GBps soonish, and raid 0 SSDs may ~ double speeds, less some overhead.
NB also, theoretical ram speeds are subject to the chipset/moboS northbridge effective bandwidth. real ram speeds may be much less?
My point is, if there is massive buying of dram by installs which need massive ram - then these may face competition from hugely cheaper & maybe almost as good SSD virtual memory.
www.quepublishing.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1416688&seqNum=2
Certainly impressive performance but I don't know if I would characterize them as competition or as another poster put it, a replacement for RAM. RAM prices would need to continue rising this entire year for that to happen, IMO.