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From: Elbereth@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: DRAM Price
Summary: You're all wrong...
Message-ID: <602@marvin.moncam.co.uk>
Date: 25 Feb 90 12:31:57 GMT
References: <12564282123019@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu> <40970043@hpindda.HP.COM> <3932@cpoint.UUCP>
Organization: Monotype ADG, Cambridge, UK
Lines: 21

> In article <40970043@hpindda.HP.COM> kmont@hpindda.HP.COM (Kevin Montgomery) writes:
> >> Does anyone have a reasonable forecast on how low the price for 1 Meg, 100
> >> ns Drams will end up (through mail-order companies) ? I need som more RAM,
> >> is it worth waiting a couple of months more ?
> >

Yes, it's a bit late for a follow-up, but I've been busy, and am still
trying to catch up with the news rather than just clear it all out.

You're not that far out, but the reason the Japanese have slowed production
of 1Mb DRAMs has less to do with nobbling the competition, and more to do
with promoting sales of 4Mb DRAMs - a method of nobbling the competition in
itself.
Essentially, 1Mb prices have been tied to 4Mb, at 20% of the 4Mb's price
(chip for chip, not bit for bit!). Both are expected to follow the slow
-30% per annum curve for the forseeable future, and the advent of the 16Mb
devices next year is unlikely to impact upon this.
Put another way, waiting a couple of moths is worth little more than the
interest the bank pays. A couple of years would pay well.

Dave E.