DDR3 pricing hits two-year high

Bloomberg reported o that memory prices hit a two-year high as a result of the fire in SK Hynix' fab in Wuxi, China. Analysts expect chip prices will continue to rise throughout the fourth quarter or that there will be no drop until production capacity returns to normal. The price of the benchmark DDR3 2-gigabit dynamic random-access memory chip reached $2.27 yesterday, compared with $1.60 on Sept. 4, when a fire forced the closing of SK Hynix’s factory in Wuxi, according to DRAMeXchange, Asia’s largest market for the components. Icheon, South Korea-based SK Hynix expects to resume production on the fire-hit line next month.

SK Hynix, the world’s second-largest producer of memory chips with customers including Apple Inc. (AAPL), Dell Inc. (DELL) and Sony Corp. (6758), has boosted production in South Korea to reduce the impact of the fire. The surge in prices may affect smartphone makers as International Data Corp. forecasts that China shipments alone will surge to 450 million units next year from 360 million units this year.