According to recent reports, the prices of DDR4 memory modules have started to fall steeply and the reason behind this is disappointing demand from the end market. Now buyers have more bargaining chips in their negotiations with vendors of the memory. Win Semiconductors have reported that it expects sequential revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2021, as the GaAs foundry continues to see almost full utilization rates. ASE Technology also reported that the OSATs will also continue to see favourable market conditions in 2022.
DDR4 spot prices falling is a good opportunity for buyers as they gain more bargaining power in the upcoming price negotiations. Since now DDR5 will be hitting the market soon with the arrival of Intel’s Alder Lake, however, the new memory standard will take its sweet time to arrive in the hands of standard customers. This makes DDR4 still the most available and accessible memory standard in the market.
Win Semi also expects 4-6% revenue growth in 4Q21 and this will be achieved because the GaAs foundry continues to utilize 95% of production capacity. It also estimated that Gross margin at 37-39%.
DDR4 memory standard offers less speed compared to the new DDR5 memory standard however, the latest memory being much faster also comes at extremely high costs. And the high prices will make many average buyers go for a better and cheaper DDR4 standard. And with the prices of the DDR4 memory coming down, buyers can purchase and stock their inventories with the memory modules. We can expect future Alder Lake models to sport more options with DDR4 instead of DDR5.
