South Korean chip giants Samsung and SK-Hynix have deferred their expansion plans for DRAM and 3D NAND production. The reason would reportedly be a slowdown in demand and lower price for the memory chips because of that.
Samsung planned to produce an additional 30,000 wafers every month in its Korean Hwaseong en Pyeongtaek facilities, starting the third quarter of this year. These would be allocated for DRAM production, but the company has put its plans on hold. Also SK Hynix has delayed the expansion of its 3D NAND production facilities, mainly because demand of flash memory has slowed down and therefore prices are dropping. The reason for the lower demand would be saturated notebook and smartphone markets.
Due to the drop in demand, there is currently an over-capacity on the 3D NAND market, and an over-capacity is expected for the fourth quarter of this year. Prices of 3D NAND memory could drop with 15% and DRAM prices are expected to drop by the end of this year.
NAND flash and DRAM memory prices will be under downward pressure through the first half of 2019, according to sources of Digitimes.
