Anyone interested in getting a flash memory card or flash USB drive may be better getting their product soon, with Samsung predicting a severe shortage of NAND flash in the second half of 2007. The shortages are expected to be a result of demand from Apple's upcoming iPhone, MP3 player manufacturers aggressively placing larger orders for Flash memory and the substantial growing number of handsets with built-in memory. The president of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business mentioned that the demand for NAND flash memory is increasing earlier than normal for this time of year, with prices expected to continue rising in the second half when the iPhone and other new flash based products hit the market, where the demand for NAND flash memory will be very strong. The strongest NAND flash demand will be for chips of 4GB and 8GB capacities.
The flash market has already shown signs of stabilising, with prices also becoming more stable recently as a result of major flash memory makers also reducing their capacity to curb the persisting price drops. DRAMeXchange also believes that with tighter supplies of NAND flash, prices will remain stable, at least in the short term. They also mention that the contract price for 4Gb to 32Gb MLC chips have gone up by 4% to 7% just recently.
It will be interesting to see how much of an effect this will have on flash pricing in the second half of the year with that time expecting to be the worst time for flash shortages. Many online stores around Europe seem to have already increased prices of some 4GB flash memory card and USB drive products by around €10 just recently.
