An interesting turn of events has led Samsung and SK Hynix to reportedly delay plans to wind down production of DDR4 modules. In recent weeks, as the inventory of DDR4 has begun to dry up, the industry has seen some fairly dramatic price increases. According to TrendForce, prices of some modules have increased by roughly 40% at the end of June. Price increases for the deprecated nearly decade-old tech were expected as final inventory was moved, but not at the rate that has occurred, and it’s created an unusual business opportunity for manufacturers who’ve decided to ride out one last wave.
According to a paywalled report from Digitimes (via OC3D), both Samsung and SK Hynix are holding off on phasing out DDR4 production, at least for now, in a gamble to cash in on the recent price surge. However, a risk lies in producing just enough product to move without it stagnating due to overstock, but then possibly removing the incentive for continued DDR5 adoption, which both companies are already invested in. DDR5 has been commercially available since 2021 (announced in 2020), and prices have begun to drop for some SKUs. It’s an interesting conundrum, but not completely unusual, as similar circumstances occurred when DDR3 was phased out. Prices had dropped towards the end of its lifecycle, only to rise again as the last inventory was exhausted.
Meanwhile, those still using older platforms with DDR4 probably ought to sit out the storm if thinking of purchasing any memory upgrades, given the advantages of DDR5 and current DDR4 prices. A newer report from TrendForce suggests increased costs across the board, including GDDR6 and GDDR7, along with server and desktop memory. It had been theorized that price increases for DDR4 might top out at around 38% to 43% but could go higher depending on various factors. DDR5 prices could increase by a slightly smaller margin as well, in the 3% to 8% range.
Discussion (4 replies)
Join Discussion →It's almost as if their announcement to wind down product production created a false scarcity, there by driving up prices of DDR4 AND their profits oddly enough at the same time.
Can't wait for the anemic fine slapped on them that's less than a 10th of the new profits they just created with fear mongering. I mean if the president does it why not everyone else!
That's when the hurricane/landslide/tsunami/earthquake/Taiwan invasion/Tariffs/bed bugs/walkout/famine/plaque/alien invasion will happen and hit 2 of the only 4 factories capable of making this stuff in the world. At the same time.
Realistically, everyone should have moved to DDR5 by now. I'm surprised that there's still a market for DDR4 that's big enough to warrant continued production, I'd have figured that the markets still using it would have stockpiled what they needed or could live off of manufacturer stockpiles.
AM4 is still really popular. 56/7/800X3D are still selling quite well. Still a large market for DDR4.