SK Hynix Believes the Memory Chip Market Has Hit Rock Bottom

[TheLostSwede]

Yesterday SK Hynix reported its Q1 2023 results and to say that they were abysmal is being kind, as the company reported a 3.4 trillion won operating loss, or just over US$2.5 billion. That's no small hit to take for any company, especially when it's only the performance for a single quarter. However, SK Hynix is apparently trying to see its situation from a positive perspective and believes that the memory chip market will rebound in the second half of this year. The positive outlook isn't just based on what SK Hynix believes though, as various analysts and securities companies believe in an upswing in the second half of the year.

That said, Micron, one of SK Hynix main competitors, has a more drab outlook for the remainder of 2023 and is expecting a tough year ahead. SK Hynix is expecting production cuts by itself, Micron and Samsung to start to take effect sometime in the second quarter this year, which should see inventory drop to more normal levels for all three companies. SK Hynix is also expecting to see a higher demand for DDR5 DRAM later this year, especially in the mobile and server market space. Finally, SK Hynix is hoping that its customers will buy higher density memory products this year, replacing older, lower density solutions, be that DRAM or NAND flash related. SK Hynix is expecting to launch its Gen 5 10 nm DRAM and 238-layer NAND sometime next year, which the company is also hoping will bring more income to its coffers, but the company still has to make it through the rest of 2023 first.



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[Chaitanya]

There is always room to go even lower.

 

[R0H1T]

Nah it will go lower, unless these guys do their usual shens!

 

[Denver]

They are right, the price they sell these chips is absurdly cheap, I don't understand who is robbing me along the way but someone is earning a lot in this process.

 

[natr0n]

Nvidia could take advantage of this but probably wont. Prob see a 3070 LM(low mem) edition with 4gb.

 

[Paganstomp]

Samsung... Oh. They in trouble, too.

 

[Steevo]

Nah, product prices are still too high, and the US economy is headed for a correction with the housing, auto and other markets needing to have 20% taken off at least. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better for this world, inflation and people not going back to work coupled with idiots in office punishing the workers for the lazy may push the dollar over the edge.

 

[Denver]

Nah, product prices are still too high, and the US economy is headed for a correction with the housing, auto and other markets needing to have 20% taken off at least. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better for this world, inflation and people not going back to work coupled with idiots in office punishing the workers for the lazy may push the dollar over the edge.

"As of March 2, 2023, contract prices for 8GB of DDR4 DRAM were down to $1.83 --- 75 percent lower than four years ago. TrendForce predicts DRAM prices will fall about 20 percent in Q1 2023 and another 11 percent in Q2. It's a steep decline considering DRAM dropped 34 percent in the second half of 2022. Likewise, analysts expect NAND prices to continue to tumble, falling 10 percent in the first quarter and 3 percent in the second."


The final product is expensive, but the memories are not.
Something very clear is that the problem is not the memory manufacturers, there is something very wrong happening with the Hardware Brands or logistics... Idk, Someone is robbing us.

 

[mechtech]

So in other words

buy buy buy now while the prices are good

then wait another 6 years until good again

 

[olymind1]

My first PC had 16 mb ram with win 95 and vga had 2 mb ram which was upgraded later to 4mb and system ram to 32mb. Before that C64 with 64kb ram, so yeah, as time goes ram will be cheaper and they will provide us more and faster ram for the same prices, same goes for hdds/ssds.

They sell now good g.skill 2x16 DDR5 rams for 123-143€, but that too will be cheaper later.

 

[Darksword]

Time for another "accidental" power outage to affect production and supply.

 

[unwind-protect]

Try us.

 

[Aquinus]

Nah, product prices are still too high, and the US economy is headed for a correction with the housing, auto and other markets needing to have 20% taken off at least. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better for this world, inflation and people not going back to work coupled with idiots in office punishing the workers for the lazy may push the dollar over the edge.

The problem is that many companies have raised prices because they can and the American people will keep buying stuff at stupid high costs, even if it means on a credit card, which costs more than ever with the fed raising rates. The American people need to get their heads on straight and stop encouraging these businesses from gouging them.

People complain about nVidia's prices. How many people do you think, just here at TPU, have bought a new nVidia GPU since without regard to how much nVidia is screwing them, just to get a really good GPU. I still have my laptop and a Vega 64. I'm not encouraging this feckless behavior, but a lot of people here are. The best way to reduce cost of goods is to reduce demand, so if it costs a lot, maybe you shouldn't freaking buy it, because if you do, businesses will know that you're willing to pay it, which is a huge mistake.

</soapbox>

 

[Metroid]

DDR5 started to go down in prices after years then now those thieves say it hit rock bottom? lol, It will keep going lower and lower because it still very expensive and not only that, ddr5 latency is bad too, when we see ddr5 hitting 64gb cl30 8000mhz for 100 usd then I will say we are close to the bottom.

 

[bonehead123]

Time for another "accidental" power outage to affect production and supply.

Or a fire, or a flood, or some other "unforeseen" catastrophic event... OR....

maybe this time, they will get really creative & make all 4 happen at the same time..

So yea, I agree.... now is the time to buy, buy, buy....hold, hold, hold, then sell, sell, sell, & make some serious bank while you can !

Ah, don't ya just luv capitalism 101, hehehehe ?

 

[Icon Charlie]

Again a talking head making comments to try to get traction of getting the prices up. I can not stand these people. The reason why is that the general public and the overall US economy is hurting.

1st quarter 2023 1.1% GDP. Less than the past quarter and YET you got the standard yahoo's pointing out that consumer spending is STRONK. These morons are lying through their teeth by technical truths.

YES spending his higher than last quarter but so is the basic costs of FOOD. Utilities Etc. Consumers are spending more for because they are getting LESS because of inflation.

YAY it look great on statistical analysis spread sheets but in real life.... In my region a taco bell taco was 2 Tacos for 99 cents 2 years ago. It is now $1.69. Walmart Cheapest Bread was 88 cents 2 years ago. $1.12 on January 2023. $1.36 on April 2023. 36% increase over 2 years ago.

Basic food items in my region are 30 to 60% higher than 2 years ago. Those are just the facts in my region because....

This is what I do for a living. I take all sorts of data from the media that is generally a false narrative of word salad doublespeak. Sift out the BS and make an assessment on where to invest. People are not buying tech. They are deferring it because of the cost of living. They are deferring a lot of things.

To have this fool state this nonsense about memory bottoming out? Man... just give me what he is smoking and I'll call it a day.

 

[TheLostSwede]

They are right, the price they sell these chips is absurdly cheap, I don't understand who is robbing me along the way but someone is earning a lot in this process.

The middle man of course...

 

[chrcoluk]

Is it an actual loss or rather 2.5 billion below profit target?

 

[A Computer Guy]

So in other words

buy buy buy now while the prices are good

then wait another 6 years until good again

Yep, stock up on guns, ammo, rations, and pc parts.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

Nah, product prices are still too high, and the US economy is headed for a correction with the housing, auto and other markets needing to have 20% taken off at least. Its going to get a lot worse before it gets better for this world, inflation and people not going back to work coupled with idiots in office punishing the workers for the lazy may push the dollar over the edge.

Before we see cuts in any pricing we are going to see mass layoffs and firings. Along with benefits like retirement and healthcare being permanently removed from middle class jobs. Next any job that can be moved out of a wealthy nation, like the US, must get out of it and go to India or Vietnam now, and it should NEVER come back. Price cuts will only come once most of the nation is impoverished and incomes must drop by over half to get a 20% cut in prices on anything. Workers must suffer and lose all they have to get price cuts, that's the reality. And if you make say 80k, no you first should not have a job at all, it should go to India. If you do have a job it should be 40k, tops. Then prices will drop.

That's the only thing that's going to happen. If your job is not working with your hands or requires a security clearance than you are not going to have a job. Become homeless or if you are lucky slice your income in half, no health insurace or retirement either.

It's not the people without jobs right now who are lazy, it's that our system demands mass pain to recover. That's capitalism!

 

[timta2]

Before we see cuts in any pricing we are going to see mass layoffs and firings. Along with benefits like retirement and healthcare being permanently removed from middle class jobs. Next any job that can be moved out of a wealthy nation, like the US, must get out of it and go to India or Vietnam now, and it should NEVER come back. Price cuts will only come once most of the nation is impoverished and incomes must drop by over half to get a 20% cut in prices on anything. Workers must suffer and lose all they have to get price cuts, that's the reality. And if you make say 80k, no you first should not have a job at all, it should go to India. If you do have a job it should be 40k, tops. Then prices will drop.

That's the only thing that's going to happen. If your job is not working with your hands or requires a security clearance than you are not going to have a job. Become homeless or if you are lucky slice your income in half, no health insurace or retirement either.

It's not the people without jobs right now who are lazy, it's that our system demands mass pain to recover. That's capitalism!

This sounds like a few decades out of date, since most of that has already happened decades ago.