RAM costs might be on the up

Written by Brett Thomas

December 28, 2005 | 16:51

Tags: #cost #ddr #ddr2 #ram

Companies: #taiwan

The cost of our beloved DDR and DDR2 might be on the increase again in the first and second quarters of 2006. Manufacturers of memory modules in Taiwan and elsewhere are under pressure to lower their production in order to boost declining prices.

According to the Taipei Times, prices of DRAM modules declined as low as 50% at one point during 2005, which pushed many chipmakers into the red. The prices eventually rose a bit before declining again, ending the year at 22% and 32% down for DDR and DDR2, respectively.

Taiwanese chipmakers are notoriously good at cost cutting and market control, which has helped them maintain their position as the dominant producers for years. It appears that this time, they've decided to slow their production to make the chips more valuable, rather than cut further costs that could harm the quality of what they produce. The change should start affecting consumers between first and second quarter of 2006.

Many have been hoping that the lowering of costs for DDR2 will drive a market adoption to that standard.

The laws of supply and demand seem to be coming out a lot in the news lately, making me curious as to whether we're really seeing more big-business involvement or simply developing more awareness of what's always been there.

Got a thought on this trend, or this story in particular? Let us know in our forums, but if the demand gets too high we may raise the price from free to... well, free.
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