As DRAM prices enter a downward cycle, South Korea’s two major suppliers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plan to control product shipments without increasing capital expenditures. According to data from TrendForce, a market research organization, BusinessKorea pointed out that in October DDR4
The average contract price of 8Gb was US$3.71, a decrease of 9.51% from the previous month, the highest drop since July 2019, when the price plummeted to 11.18%.
TrendForce pointed out that with subsequent buyers’ momentum of DRAM purchases converging and spot prices leading the decline, the contract price in the fourth quarter of 2021 has a high chance of reversal, which is expected to fall by 3%-8%, ending the three-quarter increase cycle. According to the current progress, the expansion plan of the three original DRAM factories in the world in 2022 is still conservative. It is estimated that the supply-side growth rate of the overall DRAM industry will reach 17.9% in 2022. Due to the high level of buyer inventory, plus The demand growth rate in 2022 is only 16.3%, which is lower than the growth rate of the supply side. In 2022, the DRAM industry will shift from short supply to oversupply.
Therefore, according to Korean media,SamsungThe shipment control plan of Electronics and SK Hynix will be officially launched in the fourth quarter of this year, but at the same time both companies are planning to increase OEM production capacity. Specifically, Samsung Electronics plans to triple its production capacity by building a factory in the United States and expanding its facilities in South Korea by 2026; SK Hynix acquired the local fab Key Foundry on October 29 to double its production capacity.