Sales of DRAM and Flash Memory in 2012

Published:2012/1/17 0:24:00 Author:Phyllis From:SeekIC

According to market research firm IC Insights Inc., sales of DRAM will eclipse for the first time in 2012. Flash memory revenue will hit $32.8 billion in 2012, up 11 percent from 2011. Meanwhile, the DRAM sales will slide to $30.3 billion, down 3 percent from 2011 due to softening average selling prices.

Capital spending for DRAM is also expected to decline to less than $5 billion in 2012. This would translate to roughly 4.3 percent of expected DRAM sales, the lowest level ever. By contrast, DRAM capital spending equated to roughly 7.3 percent of sales last year and about 11.3 percent of sales in 2010.

Since the mid 1990s, flash memory units shipments have grown by a double-digit percentage every year except last year, when units grew by 9 percent. Flash shipments are expected to return to double digit growth in 2012 and for the foreseeable future.

There are a lot of mobile platforms that are driving flash growth even greater than what we have been seeing pointing to smartphones, media tablets, PC solid-state drives (SSDs) and embedded SSDs.

Of the projected $32.8 billion in NAND sales for 2012, IC Insights projects that $29.5 billion will come from NAND flash, up 15 percent from 2011. Meanwhile, the NOR flash revenue will shrink to about $3.3 billion in 2012, down from about $4 billion in 2011. By 2016, IC NOR flash will account for only 4 percent of all flash memory revenue, down from 13 percent last year and 35 percent in 2007.

IC Insights projects that NAND flash revenue will grow steadily over the next five years, reaching $55.6 billion in 2016. The firm expects DRAM revenue to grow to $54.3 billion in 2016 from $31.2 billion last year.

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