Price of DRAM plunges to all-time low of around $1

IDG News Service - Prices of DDR3 DRAM memory used in laptops and desktops have dipped to an all-time low of around $1, and will continue to fall, which could help PC makers pack more memory into computers, analysts said.

Average prices for predominant 2Gb (gigabit) DDR3 DRAM die hit the $1 mark during the first quarter, which is a massive drop from the average price of roughly $2.25 for the same memory in the first quarter last year, according to research firm iSuppli. A 4GB (gigabyte) DRAM module was priced between $18 and $20 at the end of 2011, a precipitous drop from $40 at the end of 2010.

The price of a 2Gb DRAM chip was between $0.82 and $0.95 on Wednesday, according to DRAMExchange, a website that tracks daily memory pricing.

The drop in memory prices is a continuation of a trend from last year, analysts said. A shortfall in PC demand hurt memory pricing last year, but memory makers are still moving excess inventory into the market rapidly, which has contributed to the continued price drop.

"We're at a historical all-time low, yes," said Mike Howard, senior principal analyst at IHS iSuppli. "It costs Dell and Hewlett-Packard less now than a year ago to put the same amount of memory in the PC."

Instead of packing more memory, some PC makers have opted to load the same amount of memory in PCs to cover the rising cost of other components. Dell earlier this week said it was using the favorable memory and LCD pricing environment to offset the rising prices of hard drives, which were in short supply due to the floods in Thailand last year.

Enthusiast PC maker Falcon Northwest, which makes high-end PCs for enthusiasts such as gamers, said the favorable pricing environment has allowed the company to load amounts of memory previously considered inconceivable. That is significant as RAM usage is increasing considerably among power users.

"You can do server-only 32GB memory in the desktop very cheaply," said Kelt Reeves, CEO of Falcon Northwest.

But any cost benefits gained from memory are reversed by the hard-drive shortage, which remains a drain on Falcon Northwest. The company's clients want high-capacity 1TB or 2TB hard drives, which are expensive and in short supply. The hard-drive issue will linger for a while, Reeves said.

"We thought it would ease, but it hasn't," Reeves said.

The DRAM industry fundamentals are weak, but memory makers are taking corrective action to balance supply and demand, iSuppli's Howard said. Some of the existing manufacturing capacity is coming offline to reduce output, but the prices could continue to fall as long as the cost of making memory drops.