News

posted on 21 April 2008 10:50

DRAM manufacturer Elpida has announced an operating loss for its 2007 fiscal year, its first such loss since fy 2003.

The main reason is over-capacity in the DRAM market. Although prices were stable in 2006 they began to fall from January 2007 onwards. It is thought  that 512Mbit DDR2 spot prices fell more than 80 percent from January to December 2007, a precipitous drop.

The price rot is continuing; in the period January to March 2008, Elpida's Q4 fy07, they fell another 26 percent.

Elpida reported an operating loss of $240 million for its fy 2007, on sales down 17 percent to $3.9 billion. It's not a catastrophic result by any means but, with the continuing price drop it makes depressing reading, particularly with the troubled flash memory market. Making DRAM and flash is not a license to make money but rather a ticket to walk a trembling tightrope.

^{[Paul Roberts, news editor.]}