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back to article Guess who's getting fat off DRAM shortages? Yep, the DRAM makers

Global DRAM shortages might have proved a pain in the butt for buyers of PCs, smartphones and servers, but – unsurprisingly – they were a boon for the memory manufacturers. Sales of the component hit a record level of $14.1bn in the first three months of 2017, up 13.4 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest numbers from …

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  1. Stuart 22

    History may not repeat itself ...

    Three manufactures with 95% of the market. That's not good. You don't have to have a formal cartel to see what's in their best interests. A glut isn't one of them.

    The world has changed. Cheap storage may be history. Time to start making code compact again and sharpen up those compression codecs.

    4 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: History may not repeat itself ...

      The capacity increases come from switching to a smaller process to make larger capacity chips, which cuts production costs so they will all do it, but it increases the number of bits produced by 50-100% (depending on the process jump)

      That's where the glut will come from, and eventually another shortage will come when everyone takes advantage of the larger capacity chips and lower prices to install more memory. You know, like how phones went from being 2 GB of RAM at the most to 6-8 GB today. That silly specs battle in the Android world has consequences...

      2 0 Reply
  2. -tim

    What? Tell me it isn't true?

    Oh, wait... this happens ever few years doesn't it.

    There wasn't a flood in some 3rd world country that provide a rare but unexplained part (that didn't effect any other silicon based products) to blame for the shortage this time was there?

    4 0 Reply
    1. Aitor 1
      Reply Icon

      Re: What? Tell me it isn't true?

      yes, it happens every few years, until they are found to have a cartel going on, then they plead guilty, pay a few millions, and reform the cartel.. rinse and repeat.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Aerows
        Reply Icon

        ^This^

        It isn't any different than when the big three colluded to keep RAM prices high in the mid-00's.

        It *is* a cartel by any other name.

        Bring those fabs over here so that Americans can work their tails of. We would.

        0 0 Reply
  3. Gene Cash Silver badge

    So in a year am I going to see an El Reg story about Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are being investigated for price fixing?

    4 0 Reply
  4. Daniel von Asmuth
    Pint

    DRAM

    A dram apparantly mean an eigth part of a fluid once, but down here we think of whisky.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: DRAM

      but is a "wee dram" smaller than a dram?

      0 0 Reply
      1. analyzer
        Reply Icon

        Re: DRAM

        A 'wee dram' is the pub shot, a dram is enough for the width of 2 fingers to be just covered in a proper Whisky glass. According to my old man anyways :-)

        0 0 Reply

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