Samsung Electronics has notified customers that the company will take DDR3 chip orders until the end of 2022 and fulfill the orders for deliveries until the end of 2023, according to industry sources.
Samsung already suspended DDR2 chip production in the fourth quarter of 2021, said the sources.
Samsung also plans to phase out production for 1Gb, 2Gb, and 4Gb DDR3 chips, and will shift more of its available fab capacity for the manufacture of CMOS image sensors, the sources indicated.
SK Hynix is another DRAM vendor looking to phase out DDR3 production, the sources said. Micron Technology has no plans to exit from the DDR3 segment but the US vendor is unlikely to pour additional investments into its low-density DRAM business, the sources noted.
Taiwan-based companies engaged in the DDR3 segment, including chipmakers Nanya Technology and Winbond Electronics and fabless firms Etron Technology and Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology (ESMT), have started to land shifted orders recently, according to the sources.
Fewer suppliers capable of producing DDR3 chips will help sustain the memory prices this year, said the sources. The global supply of DDR3 memory is poised to remain constrained until the second half of 2022.
Market observers expect DDR3 contract prices to register a high single-digit rise in the second quarter, in contrast to further falls in mainstream DDR4 chip prices.
Article translated by Jessie Shen
