why isn't ram cheaper?

[zephyrprime]

With PC sales in the gutter, why isn't memory cheaper? I know tablet sales are up strong but they hardly have any memory in them anyway so I don't think they're a huge consumer of production.

 

[corkyg]

You need to be specific about the type of memory. Main OEMs are shifting production to where the demand is. If the demand for DIMM sticks goes down, then production goes down. Same for SODIMMs and NAND. There's really no reason for something to be cheaper when the supply is diminished.

 

[ShintaiDK]

One memory maker went belly up and the others cut production afterwards. Memory might have been too cheap to make any profit in that period tho.

 

[Imouto]

If sales are dropping charge whoever is buying way more.

 

[ViRGE]

Keep in mind that RAM is the textbook cyclical component when it comes to PC. RAM prices boom and bust on a roughly 2 year cycle as fabs cut production due to an oversupply, and then ramp it back up once prices peak. We just had a period where RAM was dirt cheap, so now prices are going to go up for a while. They'll come back down again in 2015 or so.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Keep in mind that RAM is the textbook cyclical component when it comes to PC. RAM prices boom and bust on a roughly 2 year cycle as fabs cut production due to an oversupply, and then ramp it back up once prices peak. We just had a period where RAM was dirt cheap, so now prices are going to go up for a while. They'll come back down again in 2015 or so.

And another memory maker might go belly up there

 

[ViRGE]

And another memory maker might go belly up there

Somehow there's always someone dumb enough that we have multiple players.

 

[mikeymikec]

In the UK the prices for virtually every PC component are going up or staying put.

 

[corkyg]

And that also relates to the international value of your currency.

 

[MontyAC]

Hope prices will drop around Black Friday.