Market Trends
Graphics DRAM Contract Prices Projected to Rise by 8-13% QoQ in 3Q21 Due to Tight Supply in Contract Market(TrendForce 2021-06-09)
TrendForce’s latest investigations find considerable discrepancy between prices for graphics DRAM products in the contract market and in the spot market. Quotes for graphics DRAM products continue to rise in the contract market as the severe undersupply situation persists. Furthermore, the supply fulfillment rates for orders from some medium- and small-size clients have been hovering around 30%. This undersupply situation is expected to persist through 3Q21, during which graphics DRAM contract prices are expected to rise by 8-13% QoQ. Regarding the spot market, on the other hand, the value of ETH experienced continued uptrend from the start of 2021 until May, thereby driving up the demand for graphics cards, regardless of them belonging to the newer or older series. At the height of the graphics card boom, spot prices of graphics DRAM products were up to 200% higher than contract prices. Demand from miners for graphics cards are expected to be relatively muted before cryptocurrencies return to their previous bullish trends, and the gap between the spot and contract prices of graphics DRAM products will likely narrow in 3Q21 as a result.
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第三季Graphics DRAM合约市场供给仍吃紧，预估价格续涨8~13%(集邦咨询 2021-06-09)
全球市场研究机构TrendForce集邦咨询调查，近期graphics DRAM在合约与现货市场走势差距甚大，合约市场货况仍相当短缺，不仅报价持续看涨，部分中小型客户的订单满足率也仅约三成，预期此供需紧张的态势将延续至第三季，并再度拉涨graphics DRAM合约价8~13%。至于现货领域，自今年初至五月中，受到虚拟货币一路上涨所致，不论新旧显卡需求皆大幅上升，在价格最高点时，甚至会有现货价比合约价高出200%的情况。因此，若虚拟货币尚未回到之前的盛况，在矿工对于显卡需求较低的情况下，预期将会缩小第三季graphics DRAM现货与合约价之间的价差。
从合约市场来看，其续涨有四大原因，首先是PC市场需求不坠，尤以电竞相关的产品最为明显；其次为英伟达（NVIDIA）持续采用GPU搭graphics DRAM组合销售的策略，故能够取得较大量的原厂货源，进而对其他客户产生排挤。第三，XBOX Series X 以及 PS5游戏机皆搭载GDDR6 16Gb，而非显卡主要用的8Gb，意即原厂投片量定案后，两者无法互相转换。第四，由于server DRAM订单陆续回温，原厂仍将优先满足该主流市场，在供给端产能互相排挤下，graphics DRAM合约价仍看涨，尤其中小型OEM、ODM恐仍面临双位数的涨幅。
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Vendor News
Micron Ships First 1-Alpha DRAM: Extreme Density Without EUV(Tom’s Hardware 2021-06-02)
Micron said on Tuesday that it had started volume production of DRAM chips using its latest 1α (1-alpha) process technology. Initially the company will use the new node for LPDDR4X and 8Gb DDR4 memory ICs, but the company will eventually use the new fabrication tech to produce all of its DRAMs.
Unlike its rivals, Micron does not plan to use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography for at least a few years. However, as the company still needs to increase the density of its memory chips and reduce its per-bit costs, it has to rely on other innovations to shrink its DRAMs. Micron’s 1α node offers a 40% improvement in bit density and a 15% drop in power consumption compared to 1Z. It also offers higher performance potential. Micron had to improve array efficiency design and use new materials, including better conductors, better insulators, and new machinery to deposit, modify or selectively remove those materials.
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Micron Ahead of Samsung Electronics in 1α-nm DRAM Mass Production(BusinessKorea 2021-06-07)
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra announced mass production of 1α-nm LPDDR4x DRAMs through a keynote lecture at the Computex 2021 Forum in Taiwan on June 2. Micron is currently supplying 1α-nm DRAMs to AMD and Acer. Micron’s 1α-nm DRAM corresponds to Samsung Electronics’ and SK Hynix’s 14-nm DRAMs. Micron is the first company in the world to mass-produce 14-nano DRAMs.
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The Korean semiconductor industry is paying much attention to Micron’s success in developing 14-nano DRAMs without using EUV lithography equipment, which holds the key to the refinement of semiconductor processes. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are applying EUV processes to the production of DRAMs in the lower end of the 10-nm range production. ASML of the Netherlands exclusively supplies EUV equipment, one unit of which is worth more than 200 billion won. Only TSMC, Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix have EUV equipment. Micron does not use EUV equipment so it is making high-tech memories with deep ultraviolet (DUV) technology which is one generation behind compared to EUV technology.
Some experts say that Micron’s 1α-nm DRAMs and 176-layer NAND flashes have not been verified to have the same performance as products from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
SK Hynix Admits to Some DRAM Production Flaws, Calls the Cops(Tom’s Hardware 2021-06-09)
According to a story posted by The Register, SK Hynix has admitted that some of its recently shipped DRAM products were defective and said that it is investigating the scale of the issue. According to Yonhap News, the company also denied that it was facing damages worth about $1.7 billion because of faulty memory chips, but said it is actively investigating the issue. And somehow the cops got involved.
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SK Hynix admitted that, while it was dealing with some faulty DRAMs, the damages did not impact 240,000 wafers. The company claimed that these rumors are meant to injure its reputation and called the local police to file libel and misinformation charges against its unknown assailant, thus spurring a police investigation into the rumors.
New Technology
Samsung Brings Flagship Features to Broader Smartphone Market With LPDDR5 Multichip Package(Samsung 2021-06-15)
Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has begun mass producing its latest smartphone memory solution, the LPDDR5 UFS-based multichip package (uMCP). Samsung’s uMCP integrates the fastest LPDDR5 DRAM with the latest UFS 3.1 NAND flash, delivering flagship-level performance to a much broader range of smartphone users.
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Such flagship-level capabilities are made possible by a nearly 50% improvement in DRAM performance, from 17 gigabytes per second (GB/s) to 25GB/s, and a doubling of NAND flash performance, from 1.5GB/s to 3GB/s, over the previous LPDDR4X-based UFS 2.2 solution.
