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According to Bloomberg, the computer memory chip making industry is spiraling downward as iPad sales are zooming upward due to the fact that Apple’s tablet requires about 75 percent less chips than a typical laptop.
Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips are the most common chip in computers and the industry has lost a combined $14 billion over the past three years, not including the $37 billion spend building factories based on predictions of continued growth.
As computer sales plummet, iPad sales are breaking records. This, on top of the devastating Thailand floods that have slowed PC production, have caused some DRAM manufacturers to be unable to diversify their company to enter the mobile chip market. According to Bloomberg:
“DRAM makers invested too much, and they bet heavily that growth of the computer industry would always continue,” said Chen Liway, an industry analyst at Polaris Securities Co. in Taipei. “That would have been OK if the iPad had never come along.”
The surprising popularity of tablets has been the weak link in the armor of the PC industry, with the iPad leading the way. Apple sold 40 million tablets since they first appeared on the market and is projected to sell 20 million more, just over this year’s holiday season.
Because of this unprecedented  acceptance of tablets into the computer market, DRAM prices fell 32 percent in the third quarter of 2011. DRAM, which is used to speed up processing by temporarily storing data, is not needed as much in the new age of computers, is headed for a record slowdown in demand. Colorado-based HIS Inc’s iSupply is predicting that DRAM growth will drop to 35 percent after next year.
It looks like the PC industry has a lot to think about in coming years as to how they plan to compete in the market now that consumers are starting to prefer mobile tablets over laptops and desktops
via : Padgadget