Factory Fire Sends Memory Chip prices to a 3-Year High

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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A factory fire at the SK Hynix chip manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China has caused a global spike in DRAM chip prices. The factory was not heavily damaged, but sources put a complete restoration to full production at about six months.

Hynix is said to supply Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, Dell and Sony, which use its components in a range of devices from phones to tablets and laptops.
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Anyone can start a fire. It was more impressive when Western Digital started a flood to increase HDD prices. ;)
 
Yep, let's see how high they go compared to the low of about $40 for an 2x4GB kit about a year ago.
 
I've got a lot of spare RAM, seems like soon will be a great time to sell :)
 
cyclone3d said:
Yep, let's see how high they go compared to the low of about $40 for an 2x4GB kit about a year ago.
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Yes, I loved those days. I wish I bought more memory during this time... now the same 2x4GB kit that cost $40, now cost around $90. :mad:
 
Glad I'm sitting pretty with memory... not like I have a ton but 16GB of ram is plenty for me in my main rig.

Hell I think I even have two spare 4GB DDR3 sticks sitting in my "computer crap" box. Might have to post those puppies up on Hardforum once prices start to rise.
 
Chunder said:
Yes, I loved those days. I wish I bought more memory during this time... now the same 2x4GB kit that cost $40, now cost around $90. :mad:
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I kicked myself for quite a while for not buying more of those Samsung LV sticks back then...

Then I found some 8GB DDR3-1600 LV sticks for $43 a piece shipped on Ebay the other day and promptly bought 8 of them.

It is crazy how much RAM prices have risen, and are apparently going to go up even more.

I think 64GB should tide me over for quite a while though. :D
 
So what's next an LCD fire and all TVs and monitors will go up in price :)
 
Guess I won't upgrade soon, then. Too bad, I was thinking about it.
 
Chunder said:
Yes, I loved those days. I wish I bought more memory during this time... now the same 2x4GB kit that cost $40, now cost around $90. :mad:
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Keep an eye out. I got a 2x8 kit for $101 and that was barely 6 weeks ago. Currently it's up to $136 which isn't quite as bad as the 2x4 makes it out to be as it would be $180 for the same capacity in 4 sticks. Just means we're gonna have to be a bit more vigilant and shop around.

But this certainly smacks of price fixing. Hynix even put out a statement saying the fire only affected the packaging department, NOT their production lines... and now EVERYONE's got higher prices.
 
It does have conspiratorial overtones to it, doesn't it? Floods, Fires, etc. What's the next disaster; factories attacked by rampaging giants?
 
Not falling for it. Last time it was an earthquake, and the manufacturers talking about it would take years for prices to come back down. Real disaster, fake panic hoping to cause prices to go up.
 
They've (all manuf's) hammered out so much DDR3 in the past few years that the supply was high so prices were dirt cheap. Warehouses full of it. One fire that affected the packaging dept in one plant now means prices of all brands skyrockets just so they can maximize profits just in time to clear out their full warehouses to make room for DDR4 stockpiles. I'm sure we'll see another "accidental" factory disaster that raises prices of DDR4 at some point, as well. Didn't a fire effect DDR1 or 2 about half a dozen or so years ago? At least they're keeping their price fixing partnerships consistent and alive.
 
funny how every year it seems to be some sort of an accident, natural or man made to force prices to go up for computer parts

:/
 
Whatever, bought 16 GB RAM for all my machines, minus my HTPC which has 8 GB. I won't need RAM for years. Always buy more RAM that you think you'll need if its dirt cheap.
 
Am always wanting more RAM, but I've not found anything bigger than the 4x8GB I've currently got. Can you get 16GB regular DDR3? And would it work in consumer motherboards?
 
Savi said:
funny how every year it seems to be some sort of an accident, natural or man made to force prices to go up for computer parts

:/
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"Resin Factory Fire" of '93 anyone?

" ZOMG! No resin! Teh RAMZ R now expensive."

"But the fire was yesterday!"

"RAMZ...they are now expensive! Bend over! NO LUBE!!!!"
 
sounds like the united states should make up an excuse for not exporting wheat to countries that can barely feed themselves

sounds like a bs excuse since consoles, ipads5 , new desktop processors etc are just right around the corner
 
bet you a dollar that priced on the new next gen consoles and tablets don't go up because the real player in the industry know this is bs,once again this kind of bs only hurts the little guys.
 
i hope they get charged for price fixing sooner rather than later.
 
DejaWiz said:
They've (all manuf's) hammered out so much DDR3 in the past few years that the supply was high so prices were dirt cheap. Warehouses full of it. One fire that affected the packaging dept in one plant now means prices of all brands skyrockets just so they can maximize profits just in time to clear out their full warehouses to make room for DDR4 stockpiles. I'm sure we'll see another "accidental" factory disaster that raises prices of DDR4 at some point, as well. Didn't a fire effect DDR1 or 2 about half a dozen or so years ago? At least they're keeping their price fixing partnerships consistent and alive.
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Packaging isn't the box packaging, but putting the chips on a useful board assembly by pick and place machines, and then sent into an oven where solder melt them. While they may have raw components, if they don't have a means of putting the raw components into a final assembly, they have to outsource to outside packagers which usually are running @ capacity any way.
 
^ noted and thanks for clarifying. Still, my point about excess supply in warehouses to keep them maintaining their supply chains still stands.
 
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