El Segundo, Calif., USA: Industry analyst iSuppli believes major buyers are slashing their expected orders for NAND-type flash in 2008, which prompted them to revise their forecast. Now the memory’s expected global revenue growth is down about two-thirds from the analyst’s original forecast.

Global NAND flash-memory revenue is expected to rise to $15.2 billion in 2008, up 9% from $13.9 billion in 2007. iSuppli's previously forecasted global NAND revenue saw a 27% spike in 2008, which equated to $17.9 billion. The revised forecast lowers expected worldwide NAND revenue growth by two-thirds, 18 percentage points and $4 billion.

“The major factor behind the diminished outlook is weakening consumer spending,” explains Nam Hyung Kim, director and chief analyst, memory ICs/storage systems for iSuppli.

“NAND flash is used heavily in consumer-electronics applications, including MP3 players, USB flash drives, and digital still cameras, which are driven by retail sales to consumers. Spending growth on these items is expected to slow in 2008 compared to 2007 due to the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and its collateral impact on worldwide consumers and economies. In light of this development, the world's largest buyers of NAND-type flash will slow their spending growth in 2008.”