Bleak future for dram suppliers?
1 min read
Many dram suppliers could face a bleak future threatened by rising debt, declining revenue and weakening pc demand as consumers continue to migrate to smartphones and tablets, according to IHS iSuppli.
The market analyst forecasts that 2011 dram revenue will decline to $32.7billion, a 17.6% drop from 2010. It projects that 2013 revenue will then fall to a four year low of $28.6bn before slowly picking up to reach $39.9bn by 2015.
Despite this increase, IHS states that by then the dram market will be roughly at the same level as in 2010.
Mike Howard, analyst at iSuppli, warns that the decline has come sooner than anticipated. "While dram experienced tremendous growth in 2010 after the deep economic slump from two years earlier, the market has taken a turn for the worse in 2011," said Howard. "The sharp downturn is being driven by several factors, including a dramatic drop in average selling prices for dram chips, declining to $1.40 at present, down from more than $3.00 in the second quarter of 2010. PC demand also has evaporated this year as consumers rushed to buy tablets and smartphones - two devices with pc like functions that had the added attraction of being mobile and portable."
According to iSuppli, pc shipments are expected to grow just 5.6% in2011, down from 14.2% in 2010.
