TrendForce analysts are observing an increase in memory prices in the instant deals market, which is dictated by Huawei’s desire to form increased stocks of components before the ban on their supply to this Chinese company comes into force in the middle of this month. Recall that in August, the US authorities adopted new sanctions against the Chinese giant, banning any companies from supplying components made on equipment using American technologies for its needs. By and large, this principle limits Huawei’s access not only to processors, but also to memory chips, and many other types of components.

TrendForce experts explain that the rise in memory prices due to Huawei’s activity will be short-term. He will not be able to change the general tendency towards lower prices. If earlier it was predicted that in the fourth quarter prices for DDR3 and DDR4 memory in the consumer segment of the market will consistently decrease by 10-15%, now it is expected that the decline will not exceed 5%, or everything will be limited to maintaining prices at the same level.

In the mobile and server segment, the stocks of memory chips are much higher, since the consumer segment accounts for no more than 8% of the volume of sales in capacitive terms. Accordingly, Huawei’s actions will not affect memory prices in the mobile and server segments. Prices for memory for mobile devices in the fourth quarter should decrease by up to 5%, in the server segment, the decline will reach 10-15%, as consumers have to “digest” the memory reserves that were made in the first half of the year against the background of the boom caused by the transition to remote work.

TrendForce experts do not expect any major changes in the NAND memory market in the near future, since the economy is recovering from the effects of the pandemic at a slow pace, and competition among solid-state memory manufacturers is intensifying, expanding the supply with not the highest demand.