After Apple reportedly placing large order NAND flash supply to tighten

Apple has reportedly placed orders for 100 million 8Gb NAND flash chips mostly with Samsung Electronics, which is likely to cause a supply shortage, according to sources at downstream suppliers. Nokia and Sony recently also began building their NAND flash inventories, further tightening supply, the sources added. As Toshiba, Hynix Semiconductor, Intel and Micron Technology have allocated less chip supplies to the Asia market since early April, memory module makers are striving to grab more NAND flash chips to meet substantial volumes of short lead-time orders from system makers, the sources indicated. Supply is expected to remain tight until at least the end of May, the sources said. Spot prices for mainstream MLC NAND flash trended upward during the week of March 27-April 2, as a result of tightening supplies, data gathered by inSpectrum show. According to DRAMeXchange, contract prices for MLC NAND flash chips have increased by up to 16% for the first half of April, as a result of shipment adjustments by chip suppliers. Major NAND flash chipmakers tend to allocate more shipments to system makers, and do not plan to increase their production for the second quarter in order to maintain price stability, said the market research firm.

Source :www.digitimes.com/news/a20090409PD219/nand_flash_supply_to_tighten_after_apple_reportedly_placing_large_order.html