DRAM Content in PCs Set for Decline

The 48-percent average annual increase of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) content in personal computers (PCs) during the past 20-25 years is set for decline, according to market analyst IHS iSuppli, with the average rate not exceeding 35 percent after 2012.

Climbing 38 percent in 2009 and 25 percent in 2010, the average DRAM content per PC is expected to grow 30 percent this year and 35 percent next year. However, IHS iSuppli expects that 2012 will be the last point of growth, with 2013 and beyond forecast to gain less than 35% DRAM content increase. IHS iSuppli notes that such a level would represent a significant slowdown from the compounded annual rate of 48 percent from 1985 to 2009 and from the 40 to 45 percent yearly expansions routinely seen in the early 2000s.


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In a statement, Mike Howard, principal analyst for DRAM and memory at IHS, said, “With DRAM content growth slowing, memory suppliers will have to look beyond the PC for a growth driver to areas such as the smartphone and tablet. While new devices will certainly add incremental demand, the industry’s long-relied-upon growth from PCs will be sorely missed.”

One reason for the progressively smaller rates of increase in DRAM, according to IHS iSuppli, is the tendency among recent and emerging operating systems to run leaner. For instance, each new release in Microsoft Corp.’s line of Windows operating systems historically demanded greater computing resources and more memory content. While there were significant jumps in DRAM content during the release of Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Vista, as well as during the two years after the release of XP, the pattern stopped with Windows 7, which had the same DRAM requirements as its predecessor, Windows Vista.

In fact, from Windows 7’s release in 2009 until a year later, DRAM content growth per PC actually dropped 13 percent—auguring the kind of lower expansion rates likely to be seen in the years to come.

With the Windows 8 OS set for release in the middle of 2012, the path established by Windows 7 is expected to continue, with Microsoft saying in early comments that Windows 8 will not have hardware requirements—including those related to DRAM and memory—that will exceed those of Windows 7.

IHS