PCs to bundle more memory as suppliers cut prices

Memory bundled with new PCs could soon become much cheaper - freeing vendors to offer more RAM with their systems - when suppliers Samsung, Hynix and others cut the prices they charge high-volume customers.

Samsung and Hynix representatives yesterday said both companies will soon cut the fixed-transaction prices for PC-133 SDRAM - the prices they charge big buyers - the Korea Herald reported today.

The reason? The continuing collapse in spot memory prices - the prices one-off buyers pay on the open memory market. In the US, for example, a 128Mb PC-133 SDRAM chip costs between $3.80 and $3.90. By comparison, customers on fixed-transaction terms are paying $4.50 to $4.70 for the same chip.

No wonder such customers - may of them major PC vendors - are moaning. In response, the memory suppliers are expected to cut the fixed price to around $4. Customers with sufficient clout are now getting that talked down further, to around $3.80, the Herald reports.

The paper's Samsung source added that prices may fall again, to around $3.50. However, he said they are unlikely to be reduced any further. ®