According to a report by the research company TrendForce, the prices of the DRAM memory – the one that is used for the programs or applications running on the device at any given moment, and in most devices is between 4 gigabytes (in cheap laptops) and 32 gigabytes (in advanced desktop computers ) – fell by 34.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, after a 31.4% drop in the previous quarter. NAND memory prices – i.e. the flash-based storage drives, which usually range in size from 128 gigabytes to 2 terabytes – fell by 25% in the fourth quarter. All these figures are the worst recorded in the field since 2006, and in the current quarter another 10%-15% decline in the prices of memorabilia is expected.
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The reason for the declines is, paradoxically, the crisis. While the prices of the products rose, many people stopped buying devices, so the manufacturers stopped ordering certain components – like memories. This forced the memory makers to choose between a multitude of options: dramatically lower prices to entice customers (ie device makers) to order the stocks they are producing, or slow down production.