According to the latest report from market research company Omdia, global investment in DRAM production facilities in 2020 is expected to decrease by 13.3% from the same period last year to $17.8 billion; investment in NAND flash memory will decrease by 5.8% to $26.7 billion. In addition, manufacturers of other chip types worldwide are expected to cut investment in production facilities this year.
However, Omdia also pointed out in the report that the investment in the memory market may rebound in 2021, of which, DRAM facility investment is expected to grow by 20.8% to $21.5 billion; NAND flash memory investment will increase by 6.2% to $28.3 billion.
At the same time, market experts say that memory chip makers are reducing investment as much as possible to reduce inventories, thereby increasing the price of memory chips.
It is worth mentioning that, since the outbreak of the COVID-19, although the market demand for smartphones has dropped significantly, the demand for server memory chips for cloud infrastructure has actually been increasing, and this trend is pushing up the price of memory chips.
In addition, South Korea KB Securities pointed out in a recent report that as of the second quarter of this year, DRAM demand is expected to exceed 20% of supply. The report added that this trend may continue and expand, which means that memory chip prices are expected to continue to rise.
