December 20, 2023 /SemiMedia/ -- According to industry insiders, the inventory adjustment for consumer DRAM is nearing its end, and overall demand is expected to improve in 2024.

"End-customer inventory has reached healthy levels. Although suppliers still have large inventories of consumer-grade DDR3 and DDR4, they are seeing improved demand from end-market customers in the fourth quarter and they realize that prices will continue to increase," The insider said.

The production cuts by the three major memory chip manufacturers stabilized the market and narrowed their losses, and successfully pushed up prices in high-end and advanced product areas such as HBM, DDR5 and LPDDR5.

The insider said that so far, only some memory chip prices for mobile phones and servers have increased significantly, and the large demand has provided sufficient support to maintain the increase. Demand for other consumer memory products has not rebounded much.

The source further pointed out that the three major memory chip manufacturers are investing more resources in the production of HBM and DDR5 and reducing the production of DDR4. For the consumer field, DDR4 is expected to replace DDR3. DDR5 penetration is expected to reach 50% by mid-2024, and overall demand will return to a balanced state.