OCZ Stops Making DRAM, Focuses on SSDs

Tews · Jan 11, 2011

Even though it wasn't too long ago that OCZ released its latest memory products, the company seems to have decided on abandoning this facet of its business altogether in favor of focusing more on solid state drives.

Even though users will always need more memory products, OCZ doesn't seem to have had very good last few quarters in terms of revenues.

In fact, during the quarter that ended on November 30, 2010 (Q3 of FY 2011), it made $53.2 million in revenue, of which only 22% were brought in by DRAM.

source

Phone Man · Jan 11, 2011

Can't blame them. The price of DRAM has been dropping and should continue to drop through 2011.

Jim

smarteyeball · Jan 11, 2011

They probably got tired of RMA'ing which would have hurt their overall sales.

Dave76 · Jan 11, 2011

Didn't know OCZ "stopped making a chunk of its existing memory solutions in August, 2010".

Guess that market is low profit now, have read a forecast that DRAM prices will continue to fall.

The OCZ SSDs are doing quite well, go where the money is at.

mlevy · Jan 11, 2011

Wonder what this means for support of existing installations... I now have/support 16 GB of OCZ memory (8 in my PC, 8 in my dad's), all have lifetime warranty...

Luckystar · Jan 11, 2011

Shame really though, they certainly made some fantastic RAM.

I have had OCZ Reaper-X and currently using the low-voltage OCZ Reaper and both sets were not only fantastic at the work load given but also fantastic for Overclocking. Guaranteed bang for buck.

Shame, absolute shame. Would have been brilliant if they carried on till DDR4 but hey ho.

Lucky

Win7User512 · Jan 12, 2011

What a shame! I only used their memory in my laptop and desktop (4 & 6GB, respectively). Never had an issue. Hope to get some of their SSDs soon though.

Phone Man · Jan 12, 2011

mlevy said:
Wonder what this means for support of existing installations... I now have/support 16 GB of OCZ memory (8 in my PC, 8 in my dad's), all have lifetime warranty...

Here is quote from their Warranty policy, which has always been in effect.

Discontinued or Unavailable Products:

OCZ Technology will attempt to replace all products with the same product as originally purchased. In the event OCZ Technology is unable to replace product with the same product purchased, OCZ, at its option will: replace that product with a product of similar function and equal or greater value, or provide a refund at the current value.

Also here is the specs on one of their new SSD's.

Jim

spinifex · Jan 14, 2011

Sally and I have been using OCZ, like in forever. I remember paying an absolute fortune for top of the range DDR.
Overclocking P4's and AMD's was a costly business, unlike today, where you get heaps more for a fraction of the price. Since older memory increases in price, due to manufacturing less, our old stuff should be worth heaps when RMA'd.

Guess SSD is the future, so can't say i totally blame them.
Now to read up on the Vertex 3 Pro, Jim posted.

MadHacker · Jan 14, 2011

Currently saving for a REVO drive:

Newegg.com - OCZ Z-Drive R2 E88 OCZSSDPX-ZD2E88512G PCI-E x8 512GB PCI Express SLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Colonel Travis · Jan 14, 2011

Only 22% revenue? Seems like they think they'll make that up, but that's a lot to chuck out the window.

Phone Man · Jan 14, 2011

Colonel Travis said:
Only 22% revenue? Seems like they think they'll make that up, but that's a lot to chuck out the window.

But what is the profit margin on that 22%.

Jim

Colonel Travis · Jan 15, 2011

Great point, Jim. Looks like a smart move to me, although it stinks personally because I've bought their RAM for years. Taking a look at the story about this from last summer:

OCZ has given word that they will begin to discontinue production of some of their lower-end, consumer DRAM modules. While these "commodity" level products had accounted for 70% of their DRAM revenue in the past year and a half, this only amounts to less than 3% of their gross margins. This has caused OCZ to post negative numbers several times over two years.

Then the other day they said:

SSD revenues reached a record $41.5 million in Q3'11, an increase of 325% over Q3'10 SSD revenues of $9.8 million, and a 105% increase sequentially over Q2'11 SSD Revenues of $20.2 million.

seekermeister · Jan 15, 2011

I can't say that I will miss them, because they shafted me twice on rebates that I applied for on other products.

thefabe · Jan 15, 2011

I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of different companies shifting their product lines to a more profitable venue as things progress so fast in the computer hardware business.
Thanks for sharing
Fabe

Buddahfan · Jan 15, 2011

The move has already begun to DDR4

Samsung Develops World's First DDR4 Memory Module.

OCZ saw the writing on the wall and probably did not want to make the investment to get into this.

SSD drives can be assembled from components and are easier to assemble than manufacturing RAM. My guess is that OCZ will be converting to an assembly house and dropping production as such.

Phone Man · Jan 15, 2011

Buddahfan said:
The move has already begun to DDR4

Samsung Develops World's First DDR4 Memory Module.

OCZ saw the writing on the wall and probably did not want to make the investment to get into this.

SSD drives can be assembled from components and are easier to assemble than manufacturing RAM. My guess is that OCZ will be converting to an assembly house and dropping production as such.

Does OCZ actually make the memory chips or just assemble the sticks. Or maybe they just contract out and have someone else produce the product with their name. I know they outsource their power supplies like most other vendors so I suspect they have done the same with their memory.

I have been using Crucial for years. They are part Micron who produces the chips and Crucial assembles and sells the sticks.

Jim

Buddahfan · Jan 15, 2011

Phone Man said:
Buddahfan said:

The move has already begun to DDR4

Samsung Develops World's First DDR4 Memory Module.

OCZ saw the writing on the wall and probably did not want to make the investment to get into this.

SSD drives can be assembled from components and are easier to assemble than manufacturing RAM. My guess is that OCZ will be converting to an assembly house and dropping production as such.

Click to expand...

Does OCZ actually make the memory chips or just assemble the sticks. Or maybe they just contract out and have someone else produce the product with their name. I know they outsource their power supplies like most other vendors so I suspect they have done the same with their memory.

I have been using Crucial for years. They are part Micron who produces the chips and Crucial assembles and sells the sticks.

Jim

Good point. I had forgot about that possibility.

From their web site and 10K it sounds like they do not have any FAB factories.

OCZ Technology was founded by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts, and our commitment to that end-user group has not digressed. Entering the memory market in 2002, OCZ was built around the determination to manufacture the very best high-speed memory for overclockers. In this pursuit, OCZ became the first manufacturer to make dual channel optimized memory kits available to the public, which originally took advantage of NVIDIA's Twinbank, or Dual DDR architecture, found in their nForce chipset. Over the last decade, we have maintained that thirst for innovation and performance leadership in multiple categories including power management and solid state storage.

OCZ

There manufacturing facility is only 41K sq. feet, about 200 x 200 feet

10-K

OCZ Stops Making DRAM, Focuses on SSDs

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