well, it appears the people in this thread missed my other RAM post of Apr 2, i.e that RAM prices ARE going
to go back to the previous dirt cheap prices (or at least according to Digit Times)
Thusly:
DRAM Prices May Fall
DigiTimes Reports :
The recent serious shortage of 64Mbit SDRAM for low-end graphics cards is about to take a sharp turn in the
opposite direction. Samsung and Hynix are poised to flood Taiwan with 64Mbit DRAM as they empty their
inventories in preparation for replacing the product with 128Mbit DRAM. The move could threaten Taiwan's
DRAM prices. Samsung will reportedly throw an estimated one million 64Mbit DRAM chips into Taiwan's
market. Hynix did not release a precise estimate but claimed that its figure would rival Samsung?s.
The shortage of 64Mbit DRAM mainly stemmed from PC manufacturers preferring low-end graphics cards this
quarter, as well as strong PC sales worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2001 relative to a year earlier.
However, as the PC industry enters the traditional slow season, and as PC manufacturers upgrade to
128Mbit DRAM in graphics cards, Samsung and Hynix are also hurriedly clearing out their 64Mbit inventory,
leaving Taiwan in danger of crashing DRAM prices. In the past few months, 64Mbit DRAM prices have shot
up from less than US$1 to US$2.40-2.60 per chip. However, with the DRAM deluge from Samsung and Hynix
hanging over Taiwan, DRAM suppliers predict that prices will fall to their original level of less than US$1 per
chip.
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I might also report that the recent earthquake may cause a one week speedbump to this as there was
oven based chip loss to the manuf. plants - it was not the "little damage" variety as erroneously reported
in the news.