This podcast looks into the dynamics, cycles and investor euphoria over the DRAM and memory market. We share a discussion with Robert Rowland, a former global high-tech fund manager and technology analyst, who discusses the history of DRAM and other memory manufacturers, profitability trends for industry players as it relates to historical price decline trends and changing supply demand dynamics as the industry moves towards an oligopoly. We also touch upon the market frenzy over Memory stocks, and KIOXIA in particular.

Robert Rowland, who came to Japan from Canada in 1987 to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration at Waseda University, discusses how his perception of Japanese wealth and economic power has evolved over 40 years.

An economic student’s fascination with Japanese business and labor practices, he finds himself living as a part of the Japanese experiment. Robert looks back over 40 years to his early days in Japan, when the Japanese economy and purchasing power was at its zenith, to the reality of today after 25 years of deflation and stagnant growth in real income.

He discusses how perceptions of income and wealth have changed spending, and looks at Japanese financial preparedness for retirement.