DRAM shipments for tablets to surge ninefold in 2011?

IHS reports that the strength of memory shipments for tablets contrasts with the overall weak performance of the dram market, given continually retreating ASPs that have contributed to lower revenue overall. Nonetheless, it forecasts that the industry will get a boost from the influx of tablets looking to dent the market success of Apple's iPad. The research indicates that 2011 tablet shipments are forecast to hit 57.2m, up from 16.5m in 2010, and will continue to keep climbing in the next few years. However, it also indicates concerns related to the tablet industry could be in store for dram companies – primarily, the amount of dram used by tablets. IHS analyst, Mike Howard, said: "Many compelling tablet models shown at this year's CES contained 1GB of mobile dram - far less than the average 3.2GB of memory used at the end of the fourth quarter in 2010 for pcs - the single largest segment that uses dram. Furthermore, while the majority of tablets at the show used the more expensive mobile dram, there also were tablets running ARM microprocessors utilising commodity dram - potentially a damaging trend for dram companies in light of commodity dram's lower margins." According to Howard, a second concern is that tablets will eat into some pc sales, especially netbooks, which incorporate similar computing power to tablets. "Although netbooks offer the advantage of lower prices," he noted, "the lightweight and long battery life of tablets increase their attractiveness for many consumers. As a result, sales of netbooks stand in serious danger of being cannibalised by tablets."