According to Korean media reports, Samsung plans to maintain DRAM capital expenditures in 2021 at the same level as in 2020, but will convert some DRAM production lines into image sensor production lines. Therefore, Samsung will actually reduce DRAM capital expenditures in 2021.
Earlier, it has been reported that Samsung Electronics will convert a DRAM factory to produce CMOS image sensors (CIS) in 2021 to increase CIS production capacity by about 20%.
At the same time, the report said that SK Hynix's investment in DRAM is also conservative and will increase capital expenditures in foundry and NAND.
According to the supply chain, starting from December 2020, the demand for memory chips has continued to rise, and the prices of DDR chips and memory modules have risen significantly. For more than a month, the cumulative increase of memory modules DDR4 UDIMM 16GB 2666 has exceeded 20%; and the cumulative increase of DDR4 SODIMM 16GB 2666 has reached 15.5%.
