Taipei (Taiwan) – Brisk sales of Apple’s iPhone and iPod are fueling a worldwide shortage in flash memory chips according to a new report issued by DRAMeXchange.  The memory clearinghouse says Apple’s products are eating up approximately 25% of global flash output.

DRAMeXchange says it will take memory makers like Samsung “two or three” quarters to raise chip yields.  The report adds that a flash chip shortage will occur in the third quarter.

8 gigabit flash chips traded at just over $9 each at the beginning of the year, but have since risen just below $11 a piece.  These prices are much higher than what Apple is paying for now, according to a recent iPhone teardown by market research firm iSuppli.  Apple has locked in flash chip prices at approximately $6 for each 8 gigabit chip.

So...

Jul 20, 2007 18:50     

How did Apple lock in the price?
Schrovan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Multiple chips?

Jul 20, 2007 19:26     

I find it hard to believe that, in the cramped quarters inside the iPhones and iPods, there are one of these chips for every gigabyte. I don't think there are eight of these inside the 8GB iPhone.
DTemp report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

RE: So... and Multiple chips

Jul 20, 2007 22:53     

So...: As with anything price is dependant upon volume.... if you're buying 1/4 of the world output of something, people are going to give you a better deal than if you're only buy a few million. Multiple chips: It's a multi chip module. the chips are stacked on top of eachother.
Pierce report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Apple locked in flash memory chip prices by paying ...

Jul 21, 2007 01:47     

Apple locked in flash memory chip prices by paying IMFT and Samsung each about 500 mil last year. And the 8GB chip is just one chip. I manufacture their chips.
Jason report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

RE: Jason

Jul 21, 2007 03:32     

Jason, they said 8 Gigabit, a bit is 1/8 of a byte, so a gigabit is 1/8 of a gigabyte, so an 8 gigabit chip is only 1 gigabyte, meaning , for 8 gigabytes, you need 8 chips.
rammedstein report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

re: re: So... and multiple chips

Jul 21, 2007 04:18     

Look at some of the pictures of the tear down of the iPhone. There's only ONE chip on this phone. Simply do a google search on "iphone dissected". The way the components are layed out, there is only room for 1 chip. 4Gbit chips would require 4 and 8 chips for the 4 & 8GB, respectively. No room for such a design - this article is not quite right Confirming the "shortage", I work in the flash industry, and the iPhone has slapped the memory industry with a wet fish! "Hello allocation."

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