Micron Technology Inc Chief Executive Mark Durcan said prices for NAND memory chips, used widely in tablets and smartphones, should firm early next year following industry production cuts. "I'm quite optimistic the first half of next year can be significantly stronger for NAND," Durcan told Reuters in an interview on Monday. "It's tougher to know in the short term."
Caught by oversupply and tumbling prices, Japan's Toshiba Corp in July announced it would cut production of NAND memory chips by 30 percent, a move expected to bolster prices.
Reacting to surging sales of Apple Inc's iPads, iPhones and other devices, chipmakers ramped up their NAND production capacity, but a supply glut drove prices to new lows this year.
Microsoft Corp's planned launch of its upgraded Windows 8 platform in October and a push by Intel Inc for manufacturers to build a new category of sleek "Ultrabook" laptops with solid-state drives will increase demand for NAND memory chips as well as DRAM chips, Durcan said.
Solid-state drives store data on NAND chips and are much faster than traditional hard drives.
Governments and companies are also starting to use more high-end solid-state drives in data centers where speedier performance justifies premium prices.
Durcan said improved demand and pricing next year and in the long term will help Micron's costly investments in NAND chip R&D pay off.
"We've taken steps over the last year to grow our NAND capacity to the point where now we believe we can actually benefit from being in the NAND business," he said. Analysts have recently estimated a 35-40 percent drop in NAND prices this year alone.
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