Toshiba gains in NAND, Intel lags
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is still leading in NAND flash, but Toshiba Corp. is gaining ground, according to the new third-quarter rankings from iSuppli Corp.
The real head scratcher is Intel Corp., which continues to trail in the rankings. This begs a question: Just how long will Intel hang on in NAND?
NAND flash average selling prices (ASPs) have grown this year as NAND suppliers slashed production in response to a market oversupply during the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, according to iSuppli.
The overall NAND ASP rose by 18.5 percent in the second quarter and by 40 percent in the third quarter. The ASP is projected to hold steady in the fourth quarter with a 2.9 percent decrease, based on iSuppli's preliminary estimate.
"In 2009, NAND flash suppliers decided they no longer wanted to bleed red ink. By shutting down some of their 200-mm production lines, the NAND flash suppliers were able to reverse the oversupply, boosting prices and expanding market revenue," said Michael Yang, senior analyst, memory and storage for iSuppli, in a statement.
http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=222002635
I thought it was obvious what Intel's thoughts were regarding NAND flash from a business strategy point of view when they elected to form the JV with Micron rather than keep it in-house.
At any rate the market data continues to confirm that Intel's decision was a move in the right direction, I doubt they will hold onto IM Flash JV for more than 2-3 years. What would be the value in doing that?
The R&D costs to develop future nodes aren't justified given the near 7:1 revenue ratio that Toshiba holds over them.
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