back to article DRAM prices to drop 3-8% due to Ukraine war, inflation

As the world continues to grapple with unrelenting inflation for many products and services, the trend of rising prices is expected to have the opposite impact on memory chips for PCs, servers, smartphones, graphics processors, and other devices. Taiwanese research firm TrendForce said Monday that DRAM pricing for commercial …

  1. Jim Mitchell
    Pint

    "Prices drop due to inflation" is on the order of "Man bites dog" of unexpected headlines. Have a drink on this commentariat member!

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "stimulate demand in markets like PC and smartphones where sales have waned"

    Um, guys, you might have noticed that you gorged yourselves in 2020-2021 amid a global pandemic ?

    Do you really think you're going to profit again when all those people who'd never bought a laptop now have one and are (mostly) physically going back to work ?

    You can lower your prices, but the fact is that a whole bunch of people now have a laptop they use less and less. It will last them a looooong time (well, until the battery fails, at least), and during that time they won't be buying again, whatever your prices are.

    You need to set your expectations back to 2019, before the panic. That's about the best you can expect now.

  3. onefang

    Coz war?

    The heading says coz war. Twice in the article it says coz war. The sub head says "Wait, we'll explain". Nowhere in the article dos it say why coz war, just says coz war. I'm still waiting for the explanation.

    1. Craig 2
      Headmaster

      Re: Coz war?

      Coz: "weaker demand for consumer electronics as a result of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine"

      People getting bombed on a daily basis don't buy new consumer electronics....

      1. MJB7

        Re: Coz war?

        "People getting bombed on a daily basis don't buy new consumer electronics...."

        This is true, but while Ukraine is a big country (40M approx), it's about a tenth the size of the EU or USA+UK, and while probably fewer Indians etc buy consumer electronics than Europeans, there are an awful lot of them.

        So why is the war in Ukraine having an impact on global demand for consumer electronics?

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: Coz war?

          "So why is the war in Ukraine having an impact on global demand for consumer electronics?"

          Well, there's also embargoes in shipping stuff to Russia, so that's another consumer market that is sinking fast. Then the increase in fuel cost and general costs of everything as a result of said fuel costs, which tends to reduce consumer demand on "luxuries" like consumer electronics, all directly related to the invasion of Ukraine.

          And, because of how oil is sold, ie by auction, even countries who are, or are nearly, self-sufficient in oil, such as the US, are seeing fuel costs rise because they sell to the highest bidders, even if that means exporting it and going short at home, hence the home price rises. The oil costs the same to produce, but the oil companies are coining it in at the cost of everything else in the world.

    2. Jellied Eel Silver badge

      Re: Coz war?

      Nowhere in the article dos it say why coz war, just says coz war. I'm still waiting for the explanation.

      The theory goes that all woes currently affecting Western civilisation are due to Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

      Nothing whatsoever to do with the inevitable effects of QE and dumping trillions into the economies. Then making everything worse by our current shower of shite politicians creating massive energy inflation, and incentivising farmers to produce food for us to burn in cars.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Jellied Eel - Re: Coz war?

        This war was badly needed to help boosting the economy of an unspecified country. It was so badly needed that somebody should send Russian president a box of finest wine and a thank you card. You don't get opportunities like this twice in a century.

        1. Jellied Eel Silver badge

          Re: @Jellied Eel - Coz war?

          This war was badly needed to help boosting the economy of an unspecified country.

          Sadly, not ours. Still, increased gas & oil prices will help Saudi pay for weapons from the West that it can carry on using to kill civilians. Same with a few other countries. Good for business if you're an arms company. Or even an energy company. Don't buy Russian gas, buy American.

          Oddly, the economic sanctions placed on both Russia and the West's own populations will probably mean Russia has one of the world's fastest growing economies. If you're Lithuania, it may become more... problematic-

          https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61878929

          Last week, the Lithuanian authorities announced they would ban goods subject to EU sanctions from passing through their territory to Kaliningrad.

          Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said: "It's not Lithuania doing anything: it's European sanctions that started working from 17 June... It was done with consultation from the European Commission and under European Commission guidelines."

          So looks like we're setting up Lithuania to become the next Ukraine. But as usual for the Bormann Broacasting Corporation, it glosses over a few small details. So Lithuiania used to have a transit treaty with Russia that it's now broken. EU sanctions prevent imports, not necessarily goods in transit. I guess the next step could be to completely blockade Russia from exiting the Baltic. So Lithuania breaks a treaty with Russia, it could be argued as the instigator, so NATO's Article 5 may not be applicable.

          But such is politics. Shame ours don't seem at all interested in peace, but I guess prolonging conflicts is just more profitable.

  4. Annihilator Silver badge

    Bitcoin

    Presumably the arse falling out of the crypto currency market, in turn linked to the soaring energy costs, is what has also had an effect on lowering the demand on silicon…

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