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Fundamental demand is slow after the CNY holidays as expected. Situation gets worse because some traders were found dumping Hynix 41nm NAND this week (March 1-5).
The weak NAND flash pricing has continued into this week. As of noon session of March 5, 16Gb and 32Gb MLC NAND flash has post a 5% and 3% drop to USD3.89 and USD7.08, respectively.
Fundamental demand is still slow after the holidays, as many USB drive, memory card and bandit phone makers in China being plagued by labour shortage. ASP for a 2GB microSD card at channels has dropped to USD4.10 recently, down from USD4.40 in late February.
Inventory dumping among some traders have further weigh on pricing. Some traders were found dumping 32Gb MLC NAND flash chips from Hynix’s 41nm process at channels recently. As quotations of these chips are ~7% lower than street price (USD7), overall pricing thus being dragged down.
Buyers can only take 4xnm 32Gb from all vendors but not Hynix because the bigger die size only allows it to adopt LGA package but not the common use TSOP. USB drive makers turn hesitate because extra cost has to be spent on PCB layout amendment if they adopt Hynix chip.
We expect ASP of 32Gb to be negatively affected in coming weeks. But for the 16Gb segment, once ASP touched the USD3.80 mark, some restock demand may be stimulated. |