DRAM Market Snapshot, 3Q08

September 23, 2008
Presenter: Lane Mason, Memory Market Analyst
Approximate Time: 35 minutes
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The current Denali DRAM webcast, "DRAM Market Snapshot, 3Q08", is now available on-demand. This 35 minute webcast provides an update on the current status of the DRAM market, its products, players, technologies and outlook. With revenues estimated to be about $25B for 2008, DRAMs currently comprise more than 10% of total semiconductor industry revenues and nearly twice that fraction of wafer capacity. This is not your average wafer capacity, either, but mostly leading edge 70nm processing on 300mm wafers. Despite very strong demand for the past two years, huge productivity improvements and 'excessive capital investment' in 2006-07 have made the DRAM market oversupplied, and put unrelenting downward pressure on prices. All DRAM vendors are losing vast sums of money; collectively, they have lost $6.6B in 1H08 alone, and some are threatened with extinction. DRAM makers have cost-reduced more than 60-70% per MB produced in just the past 24 months, but have not been able to match declines in market pricing.

This webcast provides a discussion of the extent of these losses, DRAM product status and secondary DRAM market trends, vendor's DRAM technology status and outlook, possible remedial actions to mitigate the huge losses and get their businesses back on a profitable track.