NAND Market – Where’s Apple?

So far in 2008, the NAND market has not experienced the “Apple effect” seen in previous years, despite the upcoming 3G iPhone (with up to 16GB of storage) and the SSD option for the MacBook Air.  Consumer confidence is low due to the repercussions of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis and consumer disposable income is hampered by rising prices at the gas pumps.  These factors are having a dampening effect on consumer electronics sales.  Despite slower growth in NAND sales this year, the market can still be characterized as a growth market.  NAND unit shipments are expected to reach 3,528.5 million units in 2008 compared to 2,508.6 in 2007.  NAND revenues will grow 13% in 2008 compared to 25% in 2007. 

Removable flash applications—cards for cell phones, digital cameras and other devices, USB drives—drive the bulk of today’s NAND market.  NAND growth through 2012 will be driven by the computing segment — USB drives, hybrid drives, and solid-state drives going into notebooks, UMPCs, servers, mobile and enterprise storage and data centers.  These markets will drive high gigabyte growth, which will need to be fed by NAND manufacturers.  SanDisk/Toshiba, Samsung, Hynix and IMFlash are all racing to conquer 40nm production for the cost advantages it will bring. 

The report presents a detailed NAND forecast, highlighting important market events and trends, as well as upcoming changes in capacity and an applications analysis.  NAND and NOR are compared in terms of revenues, units, gigabytes, and ASP.  Finally, quarterly price information from our NAND price survey is followed by the appendix, which contains all the data represented in charts throughout the report. An Excel spreadsheet also contains all the data in the report.

To purchase this study, or to receive a copy of the Table of Contents, including a list of tables and figures, please contact Susan Cadel at 607-368-7600 or susanc@semico.com and reference the NV101-08 or NAND Market – Where’s Apple?  To buy online, visit our website at:  http://semico.com/studies/category.asp?id=8#1086