Memory chip share rises 34 percentage points in a year

Counterpoint Research sees further mobile memory price gains in Q1 next year

A semiconductor wafer [123RF]
A semiconductor wafer [123RF]

Memory chips now account for more than half of the total component cost of budget smartphones.

Memory chips made up 54 percent of the total bill of materials for budget smartphones in the third quarter of this year, up 34 percentage points from 20 percent in the same period last year, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research.

Analysts attributed the surge to soaring demand for high-performance memory chips driven by AI data centers, which has rippled through to the prices of memory chips used in smartphones.

Counterpoint Research said rising memory prices are squeezing smartphone manufacturers' profit margins and pushing up retail prices. The average global retail price of smartphones has climbed 20 percent so far this year.

The upward price trend is expected to continue into next year. A memory price tracking report Counterpoint Research released this month found that while the pace of price increases slowed in the fourth quarter compared with the third, early negotiations for supply contracts in the first quarter of next year are already signaling further hikes.

Memory chip suppliers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, meanwhile, stand to benefit from the price rally through expanded sales. Global DRAM sales surged 369 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of this year, approaching $200 billion, according to Counterpoint Research. Samsung Electronics held the top spot with a 38 percent share by sales, while SK hynix posted sales growth of more than 40 percent quarter-on-quarter.


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com