World DRAM prices continued to rise from mid-June to mid-July, according to research company ICIS-LOR.

The 30 day rolling average ended July 14 for contract price 128Mb DRAM memory chips was $14.31 in North America, $14.23 in Europe and $12.77 in Asia. Prices rose two per cent in North America, 2.18 per cent in Europe and 3.36 per cent in Asia compared to the previous week, Asiabiztech reported.

Today Dane-Elec was seeing between $17 and $18 for 128Mb DRAM chips, with 128MB DIMMs weighing in at around $128.

But prices seem to have been quite stable during the first week of August, and sales seem to be slower than normal for the summer months.

"It's awfully quiet out there, and it seems quieter than usual," said Richard Gordon, principal analyst at Dataquest.

"Everyone's expecting prices to go up, but so far we haven't seen much evidence."

There has been a certain amount of stockpiling of memory. But demand has also been quieter than usual - which is a bit of a mystery, according to Gordon.

"We're just sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the end of the summer holidays," he added. ®

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