According to Digitimes' industry sources, the production of Powerchip 30nm DRAM has been hit by low yield rates. The yield rate represents the amount of good units within a production batch. The higher the yield rate, the more units can be sold per production wafer. The source indicated that the yield problem was caused by ion implantation equipment. Output from the affected production capacity may not be completely scrapped, but they definitely cannot be sold to PC OEMs due to quality concerns.

After the fire at one of the Hynix fabs, this is the second blow for the DRAM market in a short time. Prices are expected to rise again, as much of the DRAM market relates to speculation rather than real stock shortages. SK Hynix said that it expects to resume normal operations at the fire-hit plant by the end of October.

Looking at the evolution of the DRAM price on the Benelux market (data by Hardware.info), the average price of a mainstream DDR3-2400 4x4GB memory kit went up from EUR ~€175 to EUR ~€225. The prices have not come down to the previous level yet, and we may see another price increase due to the low yield problem.

(In the chart; red = average price, green = lowest price)