San Jose, California, January 30, 2002
hynix Semiconductor America Inc. today announced it has implemented an allocation plan for all DRAMs, including both Single-Data-Rate (SDR) and Double-Data-Rate (DDR) product families.
Due to recent increased demand and a supply shortfall, hynix has elected to apportion memory products to its strategic and contractual customers for the remainder of the first quarter 2002. This latest surge in DDR and SDR SDRAM consumption at hynix has been driven by a number of factors occuring in the industry.
Personal computer prices have become more affordable as a result of the introduction of the Brookdale Chipset supporting Intel P4 with SDR and DDR, a reduction in P4 pricing, and a growing appetite for more memory to operate the most advanced operating systems such as, Microsoft Windows XP. In addition, an increase of sales in consumer electronics such as DVD, set top boxes and handheld devices, has also fueled memory demand. At the same time, inventory levels have been bled off while a number of memory suppliers consolidated and cut back capacity due to IC manufacturers suffering the worse year in history.
Plans for new 12-inch wafer fabrication plants have been slow to materialize due to a substantial required investment and no new 8-inch wafer fab capacity has been added. In response to this shortage, hynix has transitioned from 0.18 to 0.15-micron geometry and developed their ‘Blue Chip’ technology to meet the needs of increased electronic system sales. ”The memory market is cyclical in nature—experiencing oversupply and shortages, ” said Farhad Tabrizi, Vice President of Worldwide Memory Marketing. ”Customers can achieve a balance through strategic partnerships with their key DRAM suppliers, by forming long-term agreements and building solid supplier/customer relationships.”
