Massive revenues from RAM, flash make Micron chief a happy chappy Massive revenues from DRAM and flash have made Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra a happy chief. Third-quarter revenues were good but they have just been eclipsed. Instead of the forecast midpoint estimate of $5.9bn for Micron's fourth fiscal 2017 quarter, it made $6.14bn as supply failed to meet demand and prices, and profitability, …
Isn't it time to investigate the memory prices at this point? I don't know if you guys forgot the indictments handed down to CEOs of memory manufacturers in 2006 because of price fixing (https://www.justice.gov/archive/atr/public/press_releases/2006/219102.htm) but I remember getting majorly gouged back then and thank God I upgraded Q3 last year.
In July 2016 I bought 32GB (4x8gb) DDR4 3200 for 136$. That price has more than doubled since then, and from the article above, it looks like all that extra cost was strictly to pad Micron and other manufacturers pockets. I read all the excuses last year (oh, most of the manufacturers switched over to a new fab and they are having serious problems getting good yields, or oh, we never saw the demand from smart phones and tablets gobbling up our supplies, and several others). It seems to me that they have had over a year to get supply back up to demand and have purposefully left it this way to keep prices high.
I personally haven't upgraded any of my personal PCs since this started last year and I won't until prices return to normal. I hope others have joined me in just passing on memory upgrades (but looking at those numbers it appears that's not the case).
I really think whoever investigated this last time should take a long hard look at this industry again. I suspect it's the same old game with just new players (maybe they weren't told what happened with their predecessor).
Hey, Steve 124,
Maybe you should investigate yourself before you get all worked up over "price fixing". Do you know how long it takes to build out new capacity? Do you know how much it costs? Do you know what has happened in the past when the big manufacturers decided increase capacity when supply was low? I'll give you a hint - companies go out of business or get bought for pennies on the dollar.
Prices are high due to low supply which is mainly due to significantly increased demand and an increased focus on NAND production. It's a great business opportunity - start your own memory company and churn out those chips if you think it's so easy and worthwhile!
>takes to build out new capacity
Yes, why bother with new capacity when just a few of you can get together, sweat what you have without having to lay out any money and generate a hefty profit.
Scania truck anyone ?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/27/vw-scania-truck-fine-eu-price-fixing-european-commission
It's a big game and these guys really have nerves of steel. They're making money again - which allows more R&D and capex, which in turn generates shrinks/layers and more wafer starts, which in turn generates excess, and then someone gets burnt ..... 20 odd years ago there were a bunch of folk making DRAM .... now 3 significant players remain ....... Enjoy the champagne for now Micron !
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