Difficulties in the production of DDR5 memory due to power management chip PMIC shortage

by ddos ·

Last month, Nanya Technology, the world’s fourth-largest memory core manufacturer, stated in its 2021Q3 financial report that DRAM prices are expected to undergo short-term adjustments in the fourth quarter, and the reduced market demand may cause prices to fall. The reason is mainly related to various shortages in the industry chain, covering the consumer, server, and mobile device markets.

In the past year or so, the global semiconductor industry chain manufacturers have been working hard to solve the shortage of various supply chains. Compared to products in the semiconductor industry, DRAM is considered a relatively small accessory. One of the reasons is that most DRAM production does not require advanced technology to complete, and mature process nodes do not involve many components. Even if manufacturers need to expand production capacity, the general problem is not big.

Trident Z5 DDR5-6800

However, with the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, it has affected logistics and transportation, and the shortage of the supply chain has become more serious, and the production of DRAM has gradually been affected. According to 12chip reports, due to the lack of sufficient power management integrated circuit chips (PMIC), DDR5 memory has been difficult to produce, Not only will the price become higher, but the delivery cycle may also be longer.

With the release of Intel’s 12th-generation Core series and Z690 motherboards, memory will gradually transition to DDR5 starting from the new generation of the Alder Lake platform. Compared with DDR4, DDR5 transfers the power management to the memory, and PMIC can make the memory more stable when working. However, PMICs are currently in short supply and are ten times more expensive than DDR4 solutions. At the same time, the procurement cycle is at least 35 weeks.

Although the overall price of the DRAM market may fall, if you need to buy DDR5 memory, then it will be more affected. If this situation continues and the supply-demand ratio continues to deteriorate, it is expected that the price of DDR5 memory will become higher, which may affect users to build the Alder Lake platform.

Tags: DDR5PMIC shortage