NAND market falls on lower prices
NAND prices take 62% plunge in 2008
By Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 10/31/2008 12:51:00 PM
The NAND flash memory market will end the year declining 14% and will fall another 15% in 2009 because of weakening consumer spending and lower NAND prices, according to researcher iSuppli.
The average price of 1Gbyte equivalent of NAND is expected to drop by 62% in 2008 and another 50% in 2009. This year will mark the first time that worldwide NAND flash revenue has declined on an annual basis.
iSuppli's revised forecast predicts that worldwide NAND flash memory revenue will fall to $12 billion in 2008 from $13.9 billion in 2007. In 2009, global NAND flash memory revenue will decline to $10.2 billion.
NAND is used primarily personal media players (PMPs), flash memory storage cards and USB flash drives. These products mostly are sold in retail stores, which have significant bargaining power on pricing, especially during a downturn in the market. With the challenging sales situation and the inventory overhang among OEM customers, NAND chip suppliers have no choice but to cut chip prices to increase their sales.
Unit shipments of 1Gbyte equivalent-density NAND chips are expected to rise by 126% in 2008, down from 179% in 2007. In 2009, unit growth will decline to 71%.
Over the past five years, the market has averaged a 192% increase annually.
Also see: NAND flash production is sliding
Expect NAND flash prices to rise
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