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Analyst: DRAM crisis looms after screwup at Micron fab

Nope, that is fake news, says memory chip maker: 'There was a minor event'

Micron Technology has trashed analysts' claims that a malfunction forced the closure of one of its two fabs.

According to market watcher TrendForce, Micron suspended the production line at one of its two plants from the start of this month – a move that could impact PCs, servers and mobile memory chips.

“The malfunctioning of the nitrogen gas dispensing system led to the contamination of wafers and equipment in the facility,” it said today.

This equates to a capacity loss of roughly 60,000 wafers that had been pumped out by the affected factory each month. TrendForce added:

“This conservative estimate also amounts to a 5.5 per cent cut in the global DRAM production capacity for this July. The temporary shutdown of Fab‑2 is expected to aggravate the current undersupply situation in the DRAM market and cause further price increases for memory products.”

The cleaning and restoration of the plant will be a time-consuming challenge, claimed the analyst. DRAM buyers and suppliers are still evaluating the potential impact.

“The negotiations pertaining to the third-quarter contracts are likely to be affected by some uncertainty over whether the facility can quickly resume operation. Some suppliers are already hinting that price hikes are on the horizon,” TrendForce claimed.

Not so, said Micron in a press statement: “Regarding recent rumours about Micron’s fabrication facility in Taiyuan, Taiwan, Micron hereby clarifies that there was no nitrogen leaking incident nor evacuating of personnel.”

“There was indeed a minor facility event but operations are recovering speedily without material impact to the business,” it continued.

A bunch of vendors have complained about component shortages, including Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. ®

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