Server memory continues to rise in price due to a deficit, according to DRAMeXchange, a division of the research company TrendForce.
According to analysts, the average contract prices for DRAM-memory modules for servers increased by 40% and 10% in the first and second quarters of 2017, respectively, relative to the previous three months. In the third quarter, a further rise in price is expected - by 3-8%.
Experts predict that in July-September, a 32-gigabyte server DRAM-module will cost $ 260 for the largest manufacturers, and prices for vendors of the "second echelon" will be even higher.
According to Mark Liu, DRAMeXchange analyst, the main drivers for the growth in demand for server memory are the increase in its volume per system, as well as the growing penetration of 32-gigabyte modules. The latter will occupy more than 60% of supplies by the end of 2017, predicts in DRAMeXchange.
Now there is a shortage of products on the market of server memory. So, since the beginning of 2017, manufacturers have been performing orders only for 60-70%. The situation is unlikely to change in the near future, since in the second half of the year demand will increase. Most of the orders for the delivery of the server "RAM" in the second half of the year were made in the first operators of data centers, state bodies and companies.
A significant portion of the demand will be for servers that use the Intel Purley platform. Such equipment will initially be purchased mainly by data centers to replace obsolete systems.
As for corporate purchases of solutions on Intel Purley, they are planned for the first quarter of 2018. The growing penetration of 32 GB RDIMM modules and 64 GB Gigabit LRDIMM will promote the popularity of the new Intel platform, analysts are sure.
According to the forecast of DRAMeXchange, the volume of the world server market in the second half of 2017 will increase by about 10% compared to January-June. The largest manufacturers of this technology for the year will remain Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Dell and Lenovo, which will account for about 40% of shipments. Sugon and Inspur will take the second place in terms of the growth rate of server shipments with the dynamics at the level of 15%.