According to DRAMeXchange, the decline in DRAM wafer starts has been greater than the cuts officially announced by memory manufacturers in the last few months. Global DRAM wafer starts have declined by 22% between September 2008 and January 2009, according to DRAMeXchange, noting that Taiwan-based manufacturers' wafer starts have decreased 55% in the same period. Capacity cuts have therefore gone further than many companies had officially stated, due to the worsening losses of many manufacturers and attempts to preserve rapidly evaporating cash positions.
DRAMexchange believes the production cuts by Taiwan vendors has limited the availability of DRAM on the spot market. This is in part due to Taiwan producers' greater dependence on this sales avenue, resulting in price stability and the possibility of a pricing rebound in the months to come.