DRAM Prices Plunge 18 Percent in Two Weeks

From PC World: The contract price of mainstream DRAM chips has plunged nearly 18 percent in two weeks to reach new record lows, an online clearinghouse for the chips reported Monday.

DRAM contracts for the second half of September, which are negotiated between chip vendors and PC vendors and make up about three-quarters of the DRAM market, fell to just US$1.44 per chip, according to DRAMeXchange, from $1.75 per chip in contracts for the first half of September.

Prices of mainstream chips, 1G-byte DDR2 (double data rate, second generation) DRAM chips that run at 667MHz, have been in the doldrums for over a year. DRAM makers built too many factories to compete against each other and on hopes people would take to Microsoft Windows Vista, which requires more DRAM than Windows XP, much faster than they have.

A DRAM glut is great news for users because PC vendors often add more DRAM to machines or offer it free as an incentive. People who want to upgrade the DRAM in their PC can also find better prices than normal during DRAM gluts.

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