Chip Price Performance Index at 107.1

Largest increase so far this yearVLSI Research Inc’s Chip Price Performance Index spot-market IC pricing index exploded in the first week of April, up 13.7 points, in what is the largest increase so far this year. The CPPI-to-Moore’s-Law gap rose for the ninth week in a row, moving from +9.3 points to 24.1. CPU spot prices, up a hefty 42.6%, were the main cause for this increase. This was the result of new parts entering the market - - both high-end as well as a reappearance of some older parts after many months of absence. DRAM spot prices continued to build on their recent rally, increasing by 3%. SDRAM, which has been on a roll for the past few months, was up in all categories, increasing by as much as 9.7% for some parts. DDR spot prices were stable which might indicate that they’ve hit the bottom, and in fact, a few DDR parts were slightly higher toward the end of the week. Here the effect was related to lower production levels and more importantly the Commerce Department’s ruling that Hynix will have to pay duties of 57.4% for violating trade laws. Foundries are testing wafer prices again as capacity tightens for lower node processes. Source: PCBnewsline