Rambus : DRAM bit demand rises

Analysts at SEMI have confirmed a favorable outlook for DRAM as bit demand rises, bolstering selling prices in 2013 and 2014.

"The DRAM sector experienced a sharp decline during the 2008/2009 financial crisis and subsequently contracted, both in the number of suppliers and in installed fab production capacity," SEMI researchers explained in a recent press release.

"However, installed capacity for DRAM is forecast to turn to positive growth by the end of 2016."

As SEMI notes, there are currently 6 companies and 20 facilities that produce significant capacities of DRAM. The industry has also consolidated in recent years, with several front-end fabs converted from DRAM to Logic, Flash and other purposes.

Nevertheless, additional fabs and lines slated to go online in 2015 are expected to facilitate higher capacity.

"[Yet], all will require time to ramp up; meaning net capacity change likely will not shift from negative to positive growth until 2016, when about three percent growth is forecast," SEMI analysts concluded.

Loren Shalinsky, a Strategic Development Director at Rambus, says the industry has observed significant increases in the memory market since 2012.

"DRAM bit growth remains robust, continuing at growth rates approaching 30% per year," he explained. "This confirms end applications requiring DRAM are growing."

As Shalinsky emphasizes, DRAM deployment is indisputably ubiquitous, with memory benefiting from the growth of diverse markets including smartphones, tablets, PCs and datacenters.

"After years of tight economic conditions, major DRAM manufacturers are once again experiencing increasing margins," he added.

"This provides the required funds to expand factory capacity, while helping to satisfy the salient growth of DRAM-hungry applications."