[THE INVESTOR] With prices hitting rock bottom, the global DRAM market has been in the doldrums over the past couple years.

According to a market report on Thursday, however, the DRAM market will likely gain steam in the July-September period due to increasing demand in the mobile and server markets.


“The downward trend in DRAM prices over the past two years has reversed in June,” said DRAMeXchange in a recent report. It also forecast that the price increase rate would be in the range of between 4 percent and 8 percent in the third quarter.

Driving the price increase will be the demand in the smartphone and server segments, according to the report.

Mobile DRAM demand is expected to increase 36 percent compared to 2015 due to the increasing DRAM capacity of high-end handsets. Some of the high-end phones to be released this year will feature 6 gigabytes of DRAM, up from the current 4GB DRAM for high-end products.

The upbeat DRAM market is expected to give a leg up to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, the two DRAM powerhouses in the global market with their combined market share standing at 74.4 percent, compared to 18.8 percent and 6.8 percent for U.S. and Taiwanese companies, respectively.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)