Increase in TV Sales... Niche DRAM Prices Also on the Rise

Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Wafer Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Due to the prolonged impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the increased time spent at home has led to a rise in sales of TVs and set-top boxes, resulting in an analysis that prices of consumer DRAM, a niche market within memory semiconductors, are increasing.

According to Hana Financial Investment and market research firm DRAMeXchange on the 26th, consumer DRAM is currently experiencing a supply shortage, and prices are expected to rise starting from the first quarter of next year.

Consumer DRAM accounts for about 8% of the DRAM market as a niche product. Digital TVs and set-top boxes make up about half of the demand for consumer DRAM, with increasing demand also coming from automotive and network device products. Unlike server DRAM or mobile DRAM, it does not require high specifications, so the manufacturing specs are relatively lower.

By product share, digital TVs account for 24%, set-top boxes 20%, network devices 20%, automotive 13%, and others 23%. AI speakers and IoT-specific products also incorporate consumer DRAM.

Despite steadily increasing demand, supply remains insufficient. In particular, major memory semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are converting consumer DRAM production lines into production lines for other devices, intensifying the supply shortage.

This is because producing other high value-added products such as system semiconductors (non-memory), which have a higher supply shortage intensity, is more profitable in terms of margin than producing consumer DRAM on previously established DRAM production lines.

According to Hana Financial Investment, Samsung Electronics is converting its oldest DRAM production lines, Line 11 and Line 13, into system semiconductor camera image sensor production lines to expand its market share in the camera image sensor market.

SK Hynix is also converting DRAM production lines into other product lines like Samsung Electronics. The M10 line, once used exclusively for DRAM production, has been reduced to a limited scale of around 20,000 wafers, while increasing the production share of camera image sensors.

Accordingly, DRAMeXchange expects consumer DRAM prices to rise by up to 8% in the first quarter, 13% in the second quarter, and 10% in the third and fourth quarters of next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.