Date: 14/10/2011

Tablets are seen as fast growing market for DRAM makers

IHS iSuppli has reported by the fourth quarter of 2012, DRAM share from tablets will leap to 4.9 percent, equivalent to growth of a staggering 1,703 percent in just eight quarters starting from the beginning of 2011.

The other finding shared by IHS iSuppli include:
The market share of DRAM destined for tablets stood at 1.1 percent in the third quarter, up from just 0.5 percent in the ?rst quarter and 1.0 in the second. Though small, that percentage will continue to rise in the months to come, with share expected to nearly double in the fourth quarter this year to 2.1 percent.

Compared to tablets, the share of DRAM from other devices will decline steadily. For instance, DRAM intended for PCs will command 52.8 percent of the total DRAM market in the third quarter, and then rise to 53.1 percent in the fourth quarter. But expansion will stop starting next year, and share will shrink to 49.9 percent by the fourth quarter of 2012, a full 2 percentage points down from the ?rst quarter of 2010.

Similarly, the market share of DRAM coming from other devices like smartphones and various consumer electronic items such as game consoles and digital set-top boxes peaked earlier in the ? rst quarter this year at 47.6 percent, but is projected to continue sliding from then on. By the fourth quarter of 2012, DRAM share from smartphones and other devices will slip to 45.2 percent.

Tablet shipments will soar 245.9 percent this year compared to a paltry 5.6 percent for PCs, and average tablet densities will surge nearly 120 percent this year to 598 megabytes (MB), up from 274MB last year.

Among manufacturers, the large shift in the DRAM industry has not gone unnoticed, and DRAM suppliers have been looking for ways to adjust their product mix to favor high-margin products like mobile DRAM for tablets. Already, several companies-including Hynix Semiconductor of South Korea, U.S.-based Micron Technology, Japan's Elpida Memory and Nanya Technology of Taiwan-have publicly announced plans to target the tablet space with mobile DRAM products. With more production slated for mobile DRAM, however, higher margins will eventually decline as mobile DRAM moves closer to commoditization.