TrendForce releases latest trends in memory spot prices. With subdued DRAM supply and demand, transactions are limited. NAND Flash shows low trading volumes as well, expected to persist until after the Chinese New Year. Details below:

DRAM Spot Market:

DRAM spot prices are rising steadily, with larger hikes for chips and smaller increases for modules. Regarding chip spot prices, DDR5 products have shown a sharper price increase compared to DDR4 products. However, the quantities that DRAM suppliers have released into the spot market have been fairly limited since the first quarter is the slow season, so transaction volumes are also modest.

Currently, some Chinese OEMs are winding down their operations in preparation for the Lunar New Year holiday, so the state of spot trading is expected to remain like this until the end of the holiday. The average spot price of the mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) rose by 1.00% from US$1.903 last week to US$1.922 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Market:

Suppliers are maintaining an extremely restricted shipment on 3D wafers, which explains the steady increase of prices despite low transactions, though the elevation of prices has fallen below that of recent DRAM spots. Client SSD is also amplifying in partial prices from ongoing demand of replenishment among fabs.

A number of Chinese fabs are going on holiday with Chinese New Year arriving imminently, and the current transaction status is likely to carry on until after the holiday. 512Gb TLC wafer spots have risen by 6.77% this week, arriving at US$3.437.

According to the latest memory spot price trends released by TrendForce, the DRAM spot market is experiencing limited upswing due to poor channel demand, while the NAND Flash market is expected to enter a period of price stabilization, with the upswing also anticipated to converge. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Market:

In the spot market, Kingston has finally raised prices of DDR4 and DDR5 modules after a year without price hikes. However, Kingston has not raised prices significantly, and related transactions have been rather tepid. Currently, spot prices are converging on contract prices for DRAM modules. Since channel demand is not particularly strong, this round of price hikes is still limited. The average spot price of the mainstream DRAM chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) rose by 1.20% from US$1.833 last week to US$1.855 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Market:

The spot market, having undergone a significant price increment within a short span of time previously, has returned to its off-season demand after the dissipation of stocking momentum for year-end festivals, where orders for memory cards, USB flash drives, and SSD are lingering amidst sluggishness. The spot market, as projected by TrendForce, will be entering a price consolidation phase, followed by a subsidence in the increase of prices. 512Gb TLC wafer spots have risen by 2.28% this week, arriving at US$3.188.

Based on TrendForce’s weekly memory spot price trends released every Wednesday, due to the year-end holiday period, the spot market for DRAM and NAND Flash experiences light trading, and prices remain relatively stable. For details, please refer to the information below:

DRAM Spot Market:

Due to the year-end holiday period, the spot market has been quiet recently and showed no notable price fluctuations. The spot market is also relatively unaffected by smartphone brands’ restocking activities, so the overall sentiment is fairly conservative. Some spot sellers have begun to raise quotes for DRAM chips since January 2, but the demand quantities are insufficient to push up transaction prices. The average spot price of mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) rose by 2.54% from US$1.773 last week to US$1.818 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Market:

Transactions have been rather sluggish from the spot market amidst the holiday period, with no apparent price fluctuations. The spot market is not as affected by the recent stock-up demand for smartphones and SSD, and has been relatively conservative in general sentiment, where the lack of demand is insufficient in pulling up concluded prices even with the aggressive ramp up of wafer quotations among several sellers since the beginning of the year. 512Gb TLC wafer has dropped by 0.29% in spot prices, arriving at US$3.117.

TrendForce releases the latest memory spot prices, with DRAM showing limited price increases due to sluggish trading momentum. On the other hand, NAND Flash is affected by inventory dynamics, leading to a gradual elimination of the premium for 512Gb. Details are as follows:

DRAM Spot Market:

In the spot market, the price decline caused by used chips extracted from decommissioned modules has shown signs of easing. The overall price trend is now relatively stable. With the winter holidays in North America and Europe, spot trading activities have slowed down. However, due to the market consensus that contract prices will rise in 1Q24, some buyers are stocking up, resulting in relatively insignificant increases in spot prices. The average spot price of mainstream DRAM chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) rose by 0.34% from US$1.747 last week to US$1.753 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Market:

Several suppliers, having witnessed the price hike of wafers that lasted for a few consecutive months, are starting to release their stocks since this week. The previous destitution in product availability has thus been slight remedied. 512Gb is currently sitting on about US$3.2, and is approaching to its contract price under a slow dissipation in premium, with the focus of subsequent observations being whether purchase dynamics would further deteriorate. 512Gb TLC wafer spots have risen by 1.72% this week, arriving at US$3.128.

Compared to last week, there is no notable change in DRAM spot price. It is relatively stable in this week. On NAND Flash, there was a 20%+ growth in NAND Flash wafer contract prices last month, making buyers stock and sellers negotiate the price. It leads a surge in the NAND flash wafer spot price in this week.

DRAM Spot Market

The spot market has not changed noticeably from the previous week, and prices are starting to weaken as more used DDR4 chips are released into the market. Kingston has yet to adjust its module prices, so other module houses are hesitant to raise their prices as well. On the whole, the spot market remains fairly quiet in terms of trading activities, and the general price trend there is relatively flat. The average spot price of the mainstream chips (i.e., DDR4 1Gx8 2666MT/s) rose by 0.99% from US$1.712 last week to US$1.729 this week.

NAND Flash Spot Market

Overall retail sales of NAND Flash have yet to surpass performance of past years, though the growth of more than 20% in contract prices for Flash wafers during November that stimulated aggressive stocking activities among buyers had led to a more adamant approach in sellers’ negotiations, and had prompted 512Gb to surpass US$3 on a continual basis. 512Gb TLC wafer spots have risen by 5.35% this week, arriving at US$3.015.