Smaller phone and laptop makers dig in for years of memory scarcity
MU•Price increases are easing, but shortages remain
The rally slows, the shortage doesn't
TrendForce expects conventional volatile memory (DRAM) contract prices up 13-18% this quarter, against 93-98% in the first.
Jolla, a Finnish handset maker founded by former Nokia engineers, said its combined storage and DRAM package rose to a peak at the end of March and has held since, confounding spring forecasts of a doubling by autumn.
"We are very happy for that, of course, for the time being," said Chief Executive Sami Pienimäki, who expects supply to normalise only from 2028.
The scale of the mismatch became clear late last year, said Nirav Patel, chief executive of U.S. repairable-laptop maker Framework, prompting "everyone trying to grab as much supply, as much inventory as they could, as quickly as they could", which deepened the shortage.
Unable to afford a stockpile, Framework places non-cancellable orders well ahead without knowing final price, timing or volume.
