from the finding-opportunities-in-recessions dept.
Samsung to lower memory prices and expand production capacity to regain market share
Samsung is preparing to weather the upcoming 2023 recessionary period in its own typical way by expanding memory production capacity and slashing DRAM chip prices significantly. This way it will be able to preserve and increase its pole position in terms of memory market share and, contrary to its competitors like Micron or SK Hynix, Samsung will be investing in new manufacturing lines, rather than slashing its capital expenditure program and laying off workers.
Samsung did this the last time there was a recession in the IT industry like the one the market is going through now, and it is now projected to add a new line for the novel 12nm DRAM chips which it unveiled not long ago that will increase its total memory manufacturing capacity by more than 10%.
Related:
Samsung DDR5-7200 Memory Chips: Small Dies, Extreme Performance
Micron Delays EUV RAM to 2025, Lays Off 10% of Workforce
Related Stories
Samsung validating new DDR5-7200 DRAM ICs with AMD:
Samsung on Wednesday said (opens in new tab) it had developed its new 16Gb DDR5 memory chips featuring data transfer rates of up to 7200 MT/s. The new ICs will be mass produced next year using the company's latest 12nm DRAM process technology. At present, the company is validating its latest memory devices with AMD.
In addition to being fast, Samsung's 16Gb DDR5 memory chips made using its 12nm node are said to consume up to 23% less power than predecessors (albeit it is unknown at which speed bin) and enable a 20% higher wafer productivity, which essentially means that they are about 20% smaller compared to predecessors and therefore may be cheaper to produce.
The increased bit density and higher default data transfer rates imply that Samsung's 12nm DRAM process technology will enable the company to make higher-density memory ICs as well as devices with higher-than-7200 MT/s speed in the future.
Memory chips rated for an up to 7200 MT/s data transfers at nominal voltage promise to significantly increase performance of next-generation PCs that will be able to take advantage of them. Also, these ICs promise to further push boundaries of DDR5 overclocking for enthusiasts, so we should expect even faster DDR5 modules in 2023 and beyond. Meanwhile, it is noteworthy that right now the company is validating its latest DDR5-7200 chips with AMD, which may imply (although this is a speculation) that the CPU designer plans to support this speed bin rather sooner than later.
Micron cuts costs as demand for 3D NAND and DRAM drops:
Micron this week announced drastic cost-cutting measures, which includes a 10% workforce reduction as well as further lowering of capital expenditures. As a result, the company will slowdown the ramp of new DRAM nodes, which will delay its introduction of 1γ (1-gamma) production nodes, that use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography to 2025. Meanwhile, the company has begun sampling of 24Gb DDR5 memory devices for enterprise applications.
Micron is the only large DRAM maker that does not use EUV lithography with its latest fabrication processes. The memory producer plans to use EUV for several layers in its 1γ manufacturing technology, which was set to be introduced sometime in 2024. Because Micron has to reduce spending on new equipment in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 as well as reduce DRAM bit shipments in the coming quarters, it will have to slowdown ramp up of DRAMs on its 1β and 1γ fabrication technologies.
[...] Since the company expects meagre demand growth for both types of memory it produces — 10% in DRAM and around 20% in NAND — it needs to reduce its operating expenses too. As a result, it plans to reduce headcount by 10% throughout 2023 'through a combination of voluntary attrition and personnel reductions.'
Related: Micron's New 3D NAND Flash Could Usher in a Rapid New Generation of SSDs
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday December 30 2022, @05:54PM (1 child)
One thing I learned from Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon was to not grow, just pile up cash while the market was riding high. Wait for the inevitable panic. When the panic came, then you emptied out the vaults to expand like mad. During panics, land, labor, and equipment was cheap,
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday December 30 2022, @07:47PM
The exception was in early game when you have to expand like mad, no matter what, in order to build in future profit.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by krishnoid on Friday December 30 2022, @07:48PM (6 children)
Their own two most recent Galaxy S21 and S22 phones don't have a microSD slot. Unless they plan to stop manufacturing microSD memory (and maybe they do), how can they explain with a straight face why their own phones don't find microSD storage useful?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday December 30 2022, @10:51PM (4 children)
They do a big upsell on internal storage and memory. They even combine the two into a single package:
Samsung Launches Single-Chip uMCP Packages with LPDDR4X DRAM & UFS 3.0 Storage [anandtech.com]
Samsung introduces LPDDR5 uMCP that brings flash and RAM on the same chip [gsmarena.com]
Now that internal storage is often in the 256 GB to 1 TB range, they figure they can get away with not offering a microSD slot. They can use waterproofing as an excuse.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday December 31 2022, @06:00AM (3 children)
From what I've seen, what they do with all that extra storage is fill it with crapware, so you still only have a gig or so left. Then you get to go through each app, decide if it's needed or shovelware, and delete the latter.
Not to mention they'll charge you $200 for 16 gig storage, when you can buy a 32 gig SD card for $30.
Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 31 2022, @06:43AM
I think that was true of phones in the range of 16 to 64 GB of internal storage, but when you start looking at 128 to 512 GB which are more common these days, there's just no way that the bloat has kept up. Average storage climbed to around 100 GB [androidauthority.com] in 2020-2021. I don't have a figure for pre-installed bloat, including the OS, but I doubt it could be much higher than 20 GB. They could knock off 50 GB on some of these flagships and it would be nothing more than a dent.
You can probably find phone reviews that measure the amount of out-of-the-box usable storage. I remember seeing some mentions of it in the past, back when it was particularly egregious.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday December 31 2022, @03:56PM
I would like to say I'm happy to tell you microSD card prices [amzn.com] are even better than that, but it still wouldn't put a card slot in their phones.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 02 2023, @03:13AM
Say goodbye to 128 GB soon:
https://wccftech.com/galaxy-s23-ram-storage-configuration-details-leaked/ [wccftech.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Friday December 30 2022, @10:56PM
Also, removable SIM cards are going away in favor of embedded-SIM [wikipedia.org], so there goes the combined slot for SIM and microSD.
Even eSIM will go away:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]