Singapore chip manufacturing sector set to boom as global DRAM shortage continues

Benefits could ‘cascade across the entire value chain’, as demand outstrips supply of the computer memory hardware

Singapore’s manufacturing sector stands to benefit from the sustained global shortage of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips. The scarcity is expected to last for at least another year.

DRAM, the most common type of RAM, is used in technology products such as phones and personal computers. The upward trajectory of the price of DDR5 DRAM – the benchmark and fastest version in the market – began in earnest last October.

Contract prices for this piece of hardware rose to US$3.45 in December last year, a sharp rise of 28.7 per cent from October and an even larger 40.2 per cent rise from January 2024, according to data from Bloomberg.

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