DRAM Dominance
According to market research firm DRAMeXchange, Samsung Electronics recorded a global mobile DRAM market share of 60.4% in the first quarter of this year by posting US$2.026 billion in sales. The market share hit an all-time high although the sales dropped by 22.7% from a quarter ago due to a decline in average selling price (ASP).
During the same period, SK Hynix recorded US$903 million in sales, down 23.1% from a year ago, but increased its market share by 0.8 percentage points to 26.9%. The combine market share of the two South Korean companies rose from 84.3% to 87.3% between the fourth quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of this year to reach a new high.
Micron Technology, in the meantime, witnessed a 45.6% drop in sales between the two quarters due to its microfabrication technology lagging behind those of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as well as the decline in the ASP of DRAM chips. Its sales fell to US$349 million in the first quarter with its market share dropping by four percentage points to 10.4%.
This year, Samsung Electronics is expected to be able to raise its market share to at least 70% as the gap between the paces of microfabrication technology adoption of Samsung Electronics and the others has widened to two years or so. Samsung Electronics started a 20-nanometer process in 2014 and an 18-nanometer process this year while the others are still having hard time starting a 20-nanometer process now.