Monthly Memory & Flash Market Watch
August 2024
Samsung completes validation of fast LPDDR5X for use with MediaTek mobile platform
• The LPDDR5X has the industry’s fastest operation speed at 10.7Gb/s and delivers more than 25% improved power consumption compared to the previous-gen, enhancing on-device AI performance.
• MediaTek’s upcoming Dimensity 9400 SoC that applies LPDDR5X 16GB package from Samsung is scheduled to be released in 2H24.
Kioxia showcases new Optical Interface SSD for Next-Generation Green Data Centers
• Optical switching devices allow system builders to place storage drives up to 40 meters away from the CPU, which can optimize cooling and power requirements of data centers.
• Optical SSDs require less space owing to their slimmer connectors compared to current technology. They're also less susceptible to electromagnetic interference, so shielding and cable placement is relatively easier.
SK Hynix looking at US IPO for Solidigm subsidiary
• Solidigm has achieved its first profit after 12 consecutive quarters of losses, which makes the IPO evaluation more feasible. Yet the venture between this 2 firms still depends on how the new organization is structured, such as which assets are included in Solidigm versus those retained by SK Hynix, and how both entities address future technology plans.
Micron sampling MRDIMM to accelerate data center workloads
• As 1st-gen in the Micron MRDIMM family, this DRAM solution will be compatible with Xeon 6 processors, and outperform current TSV RDIMMs by enabling the highest bandwidth, largest capacity with the lowest latency to accelerate memory-intensive virtualized multi-tenant, HPC, and AI data center workloads.
SUPPLY TREND
2024-2025 Worldwide SSD Shipment
WW SSD demand is expected to reach a peak in the end of 2024, and 2025 general shipping status is likely to stay above 2024’s quarterly level.
2024-2025 Worldwide DRAM Output
2024-2025 NAND Price Trend & Sufficiency Ratio
maintained at low level since 2024/B
Price Trend: NAND flash price trends stable until Q1’25, and will experience a gradual hike QoQ in demand peak seasons
2024-2025 DDR4 Price Trend & Sufficiency Ratio
DRAM Sufficiency: maintained at extreme low level throughout 2024
Price Trend: 8Gb contract price had a strong rebound in 2Q24 and another wave of hikes is possible in 4Q24. There is a relatively large gap between general price level and lowest spot price level
SUPPLY SIGNAL
| Type | Supply | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
DRAM Module  |
DDR3 | ● | ▲ |
| DDR4 | ● | ▲ | |
| DDR5 | ● | ▲ | |
|
Flash Storage  |
SLC | ● | ▂ |
| MLC | ● | ▂ | |
|
3D TLC (BiCS3) *Limited Supply. We encourage you to migrate to BiCS5 |
● | ▲ | |
|
3D TLC (BiCS4) * Tight supply. We encourage you to migrate to BICS5. |
● | ▲ | |
| 3D TLC (BiCS5) | ● | ▲ |
●Smooth Supply ● Mildly Tight Supply ● Tight supply ▂ Flat ▲ Upward trend ▼ Downward trend
Insights
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How to Choose Industrial SSD for Medical Devices?
Medical devices are rapidly becoming more digital. From medical imaging systems, patient monitoring devices, endoscopy systems, and automated dispensing cabinets to healthcare edge gateways, an increasing number of healthcare applications must continuously record medical images, sensor data, operation logs, alarm events, and system status while supporting diagnostic and treatment workflows.
What Is an NVMe SSD?
Learn what an NVMe SSD is, how NVMe differs from SATA SSDs, and why NVMe storage is ideal for automation, industrial systems, and high-frequency data logging.
What Is ECC DRAM?
Learn what ECC DRAM is, how error correction works, and why it matters for data integrity, system stability, networking security, and mission-critical computing.
How to Choose NVR Storage: Key Factors for Efficient Surveillance Systems
NVR storage is not only about capacity planning. It also affects data integrity and long-term system reliability. For AI NVR and 24/7 recording environments, storage devices must handle heavy write workloads, RAID rebuilding, and continuous recording. As a result, choosing between HDD vs. SSD and selecting the right surveillance SSD have become critical for modern surveillance deployment.
What Is the SSD Temperature Range?
Temperature is the silent limiter of every SSD, and the SSD temperature range is both a performance spec as well as a reliability spec. Under sustained load, NVMe firmware tracks a composite temperature and will start to throttle lightly or heavily. So, write throughput drops hard and latency spikes. Heat also speeds charge leakage inside NAND, which accelerates retention loss. The effect worsens as cells age from program/erase wear. Thus, you burn endurance faster and raise data-retention trouble when the drive later remains unpowered.
Garbage Collection in Industrial SSDs: What You Need to Know
Garbage collection in SSDs is the controller's quiet cleanup job. It compacts still-valid pages into new space and erases blocks that are now mostly junk. That might sound weird until you remember NAND flash can't overwrite a programmed page. It must erase first, and erase happens at the block level, not per page. So, updates become "write elsewhere, then clean later."
