In response to future market demand, on June 22, memory maker Nanya Technology officially started construction of a 12-inch plant.

According to the information, Nanya Technology plans to invest NTD 300 billion to build a new double-layer clean room 12-inch plant, the new plant base contains "main plant", "R & D building" and "water reclamation center "At the same time, in order to meet the future demand for advanced process introduction, a separate plant for EUV micro-imaging equipment will be built.

It is reported that the new plant will adopt Nanya's self-developed 10nm (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) process technology to produce DRAM chips, and will use "AI intelligent manufacturing" technology to improve process efficiency. The new plant is planned to be expanded in three phases, with a monthly production capacity of 45,000 wafers upon completion, and is expected to be ready for mass production in 2025.

As we all know, DRAM is one of the key components in the intelligent era of all electronic products and an extremely important part of the semiconductor industry, widely used in various fields such as smartphones, personal computers and servers.

1 Q3 DRAM price may fall 3~8%

In recent years, weak demand for consumer electronics due to high inflation and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have made the DRAM industry face challenges in the second half of the year, with overall DRAM inventories rising. Market research firm TrendForce Tibco predicts that in Q3, DRAM prices will fall by 3%-8%.

From a product category perspective, DRAM prices in the PC, Mobile, and Consumer categories are forecast to fall 3-8%; while DRAM prices in the Server and Graphics categories are forecast to fall 0-5%.

At present, PC, mobile and consumer products are more seriously affected. Tiburon Consulting further, does not rule out the third quarter PC and smart phones and other products prices fell by more than 8%.

In addition, because of the spread of hyperinflation, the current strong demand for cloud server demand may also be affected in the future. Tibco expects server DRAM product prices to fall another 0-5% in the third quarter.

2 DRAM manufacturers' expansion accelerates

In recent years, with the rapid development of AI, big data, 5G, self-driving cars and IoT, DRAM market demand has continued to rise, also driving the pace of production expansion by major manufacturers.

In addition to the start of construction of a new factory in Nanya, the new factory built by U.S. memory maker Micron near its existing factory in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, has also recently come up with new developments.

According to Japan's TV Tokyo earlier this month, Micron invested 800 billion yen in the construction of the new plant plans to start production of 1β process DRAM products in the second half of this year. The plant, which is scheduled to officially start operations in 2024, will mainly produce DRAM chips widely used in data centers, and the Japanese government is expected to provide partial financial support.

According to Micron's previously disclosed technology roadmap, the 1β DRAM products it plans to launch by the end of 2022 will provide good performance in areas such as graphics, HBM3 and automotive, and Micron will also introduce EUV technology into the 1γ DRAM process.

In addition, Micron plans, over the next decade, to invest $150 billion globally.