64M DRAM prices have been falling

The mainstay of many semiconductor companies in Korea, the 64-megabit-DRAM, PC100 synchronous DRAM, recorded a drop in price in the U.S. real market by about US$0.26 from the previous day.

The price range was from US$7.35 to US$7.79 per unit, shattering the US$8 barrier. Last weekend, the price dropped 5%, and within the last two months, the price reeled down to the US$ 7 range.

The previous high was a US$9 per unit in June. Recently the prices of both the 64M DRAM as well as the higher-end next-generation export mainstay, 128M-DRAM, have recorded steep falls in prices.

The reason for such weak prices was the less-than-expected distribution of computers, which led to oversupply. Especially, many companies had stockpiled the chips in anticipation of product shortages, but they have begun to release the chips into the market, worsening the falling price.

However, many domestic and international semiconductor businesses have stated that this is a temporary state of affairs and that as soon as the North American computer market improves as it faces end-of-the-year sales, the prices will stabilize.