Smartphones drive strong mobile DRAM sales

Due to growing smartphones and tablet sales, mobile DRAM is set to hit a record $6.56bn in revenues this year, up 10% from 2011, according to an IHS iSuppli Mobile & Embedded Memory Market Brief.
Mobile DRAM density in smartphones increased from 2.28Gbit to 5.85Gbit in the last two years.

The expansion is even greater in tablets, with the mobile DRAM average density soaring fourfold during the same period from to 8.33Gbit.
Mobile DDR DRAM chips differ from standard DRAM with power-saving features including lower operating voltage and optimised refresh rates.
“The mobile DRAM segment is achieving impressive growth as mobile operating systems, streaming apps and games require more memory to handle sophisticated tasks,” said Ryan Chien, analyst for memory & storage at IHS.

“Crucial features like multitasking, media decoding and decompression, data synchronization and background operations are all driving DRAM needs—and new phones and tablets are meeting those needs with their rise in mobile DRAM densities,” said Chien.

The standard DRAM market grew by 3% over the same period.
Owing to the lagging sales of PC computing behind handsets and tablets, revenue growth for standard DRAM this year is anticipated to be weak.

While mobile DRAM average selling prices have been falling over time in line with the overall memory space, prices remain relatively firm for mobile DRAM chips because of a number of factors, including high demand, a smaller supply base and healthy density growth.