DRAM It: Micron Fab 'Event' Could Worsen Global Shortage

[Guest]

Micron's Fab-2 experiences a production interruption that could worsen the existing global DRAM shortage.

DRAM It: Micron Fab 'Event' Could Worsen Global Shortage : Read more

 

[rantoc]

So in other words, create an "event" (and hope no other player emerge) and profit from it - Business as usually!

 

[Stardude82]

Eh, happens. Remember the 2013 Hynix fire that took out 10% of world production for a couple months? Or the Thailand Flooding in 2011 which knocked out most of the world's mechanical hard drive production and it took years for prices to come down?

 

[InvalidError]

So in other words, create an "event" (and hope no other player emerge) and profit from it - Business as usually!

Shutting down and restarting a chip manufacturing line costs several million dollars in wear item replacement and process re-calibration costing weeks if not months worth of wafers. They don't make profit from that and historically, DRAM manufacturers have sold chips at a loss just to avoid shutting lines down and having to eat restart costs. Many DRAM manufacturers have gone bankrupt, been taken over or forced to merge from that, which is how we went from 20+ significant DRAM manufacturers pre-2000 to only a handful today.

 

[CorsairSSC]

Great. Now on top of the Ethereum and Bitcoin mining price hikes on GPUs, I can't get an extra stick of RAM or a cheap phone

 

[beayn]

Stardude82
Prices still haven't returned as low as they were back then. I got a 2TB WD Black for $129 CDN in 2011.. Today it's $179, but I think I once saw it as low as $159.