Next year’s DRAM demand, ‘smartphone’ is key … semiconductor industry looks for opportunities in ‘5G’

Despite the Corona 19 uncertainty in the semiconductor market, the observation that DRAM demand will pick up next year, focused on smartphones, is gaining traction. In particular, 5G phones, which will expand in earnest upon entering Apple, will actively lead demand, and demand for servers, which has slowed somewhat in the second half, is also expected to support the strength.

According to the semiconductor industry on the 10th, the mobile DRAM price stabilization trend continued into the second half of this year, and there is a growing expectation that the memory semiconductor industry will be revitalized from the first quarter of next year. when the server DRAM inventory tuning is complete.

In particular, the supply of 5G phones is anticipated to be key to the DRAM market boom next year. At the ‘Semiconductor Market Forecast Seminar’ organized by the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association on 28 last month, Omdia Chief Researcher Jeong Seong-gong said: “The number of smartphone shipments that will rebound with the supply of 5G phones next year is a hot topic in the DRAM market. It will hit the 1.3 billion mark and drive DRAM growth. “

The smartphone market, which has been stagnant for several years, is preparing an opportunity to grow again due to the recent emergence of the 5G market and form factor innovations such as folding phones. This year, the entire smartphone market, including production, distribution and marketing, appeared to be frozen again due to Corona 19, which has grown since the beginning of the year, but the demands that delayed purchases in the first half returned to the market one after another. In the second half. It is an analysis that he raises again.

Based on the signals from the second half of this year, there is also an atmosphere that interprets the outlook for the smartphone market for next year more positively than before. After 5G began to be commercialized in earnest, the expectation was based that Apple will increase the overall market volume by launching the first 5G phone ‘iPhone 12’ in the market led by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

Thanks to this, given that the share of 5G phones of all smartphones will rise to a level that will exceed 43% of all smartphones next year, it is possible to forecast that this demand will drive the demand for mobile DRAM for use in the new 5G phones.

The price of server-oriented DRAM is showing a weakening as cloud companies that increased their purchases in the first half of the year begin to run out of inventory in the second half, but supply and demand are expected to stabilize. in the first quarter of next year as the price is relatively balanced. In October, PC DRAM prices fell more than 8% due to oversupply, and server DRAM also showed weakness.

Samsung Electronics, the number one memory company, also showed similar perspectives and expressed a willingness to seize opportunities in the mobile semiconductor business.

Samsung Electronics explained in a conference call following its third-quarter earnings announcement that demand for mobile memory is also increasing as production by smartphone makers in Greater China ramps up to fill the void with US sanctions. Huawei.

Han Jin-man, executive director of Samsung Electronics’ memory division marketing team, said: “Construction demand from customers will increase significantly in Q4 after Q3.” “Recently, orders are increasing mainly in Greater China. It will continue.”

He predicted that “in the first half of next year, we will prepare for the intensive increase in demand for 5G” and expressed expectations of expanding demand for mobile DRAMs next year.