System Builders: Really Bad News, DRAM Price Increases May Be More Than Seasonal

As anyone who builds computers knows, each year during the golden quarter (the last three months of the year, where many businesses actually get into the black for the entire year) prices on computer memory go up, as everyone anticipates the need for memory for Christmas holiday (could be Hanukkah, could be Kwanzaa) gifts of computers.

The market price usually settles down around the middle of the following February, and once again, the small builder gets the green light for economical RAM purchases.

Unfortunately, there appears to be a perfect storm brewing, with the release of Windows 7 conspiring to increase computer purchases, the usual number of holiday computer purchases, and the simple fact that the possible end of an unnatural memory price slump is about to occur.

Maximum Computer puts it this way -

The DRAM market slumped to a 15-year nadir last year. But it is now moving briskly on the road to recovery. According to DRAMeXchange, contract prices for 1Gb DDR2 and 1Gb DDR3 chips shot up by 15.7% and 10.9%, respectively, in the late part of October. Nanya Technology’s vice president and spokesperson Pai Pei-Lin expects an encore from the DRAM market in November. He believes November will bring yet another double-digit rise in contract quotes for DRAM memory.

If you are a computer OEM, this doesn’t really affect you, as you have already bought ahead at a set pricing for some time. This is, in fact, what is driving up the holiday prices, as those OEMs knew ahead of time that their demand would rise, and bought (some would say sucked up) larger quantities planned for the fourth quarter.

For the small builder on a budget, it might be a good idea to wait until February, giving a way to collect more money for that stupendous upcoming build, and then get the best prices, while also being able to choose from some newer things which are always debuted at CES in January.

When you see those new pieces from the Consumer Electronics Show come around, and the lower prices of memory coming back, you’ll be glad you waited.

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turn to more productive things during the holidays, worrying about DRAM pricing does nothing to change it…be calm Grasshopper, the binary spirits will guide you in times of quiet.

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