This year will see a substantial rise in the adoption of DDR5 memory in data centers and other server applications.
Falling DDR5 chip prices, as well as new-generation server processors' support for the memory, will boost the DDR5 penetration rate in the server sector to 30% in 2023, according to market sources. The penetration rate may top 10% in the second quarter of 2023, up from a just low-single-digit percentage in the fourth quarter.
With new AMD and Intel server CPUs supporting DDR5 memory, server DDR5 memory shipments will pick up starting the second quarter, the sources indicated. Cloud server vendors, which were engaged in inventory adjustments since the second half of last year, are expected to see their shipments return to a sequential growth track in the second quarter of 2023.
The overall server shipments are likely to drop about 10% sequentially in the first quarter after decreasing around 7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, the sources said. Shipments are poised to rise over 10% in the second quarter.
Besides, DDR5 chip prices will continue trending downward through the first half of 2023, further narrowing the price gap between DDR5 and DDR4 chips, the sources noted. Prices for top-end DDR5 memory for servers fell over 40% in the fourth quarter of last year alone.
In the PC segment, drops in DDR5 chip prices also will stimulate the memory's adoption this year, according to the sources. PC DDR5 chip prices once exceeded their DDR4 counterparts by as much as 200%, but the gap has narrowed to only 20-30% recently, said the sources.
Article translated by Jessie Shen
