NAND prices will drop 60% for the year

Weaker-than-expected demand and falling prices mean the NAND flash memory market won’t grow in 2008

By Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 8/19/2008 8:29:00 AM

The average price of NAND flash memory will fall 60% in 2008 because of the economic slowdown and intense competition, according to researcher iSuppli in El Segundo, Calif.

Earlier the researcher said prices would drop about 56%. In addition, the flash memory market will remain flat in 2008. In April, iSuppli had earlier forecast 9% revenue growth. Instead the market will stay at about $13.9 billion in 2008. However, unless NAND prices stabilize during the fourth quarter, even flat growth may not be possible this year, according to the researcher. 

“The flash industry is abuzz with talk about solid-state drives (SSDs) and other emerging applications that could drive new NAND demand,” says Nam Hyung Kim, chief analyst and director at iSuppli. “However, none of these applications is expected to change the momentum of the NAND business anytime soon.”

He says with the gloomy economic outlook, excess inventory, slow orders and weak consumer spending, the NAND market will remain under pressure for the foreseeable future.

NAND flash is used in consumer-electronics applications, including MP3 players, USB flash drives and digital still cameras.

Also see: NAND prices continue their freefall