Kingston Technology Co. and other makers of memory products may be turning a corner after a tough 2008.
Fountain Valley-based Kingston, which makes memory modules for computers and cards for consumer electronics, was hit last year by falling prices for its products amid an oversupply of memory chips and slumping demand for computers and gadgets.
Kingston buys memory chips and assembles them onto circuit boards that are used for short-term data storage in computers. The company also makes memory cards that store pictures, songs and other data in consumer electronics.
Prices for memory chips, made by big chipmakers in Asia and Europe, have been in a freefall since last year, crimping sales and profits for Kingston and others. As the price of memory chips fall, so do prices for Kingston’s products.
In 2008, the price for the most common memory chips, known as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, fell by 55%, according to Nam Hyung Kim, an analyst at El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp.
Prices fell roughly 40% during the fourth quarter alone.
But now DRAM prices are showing signs of recovering, industry watchers say.
For more on this story, read the March 16 issue of the Business Journal.
