Samsung Electronics Retains 1st Position in DRAM Market Share Despite Drop

As the demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI) led to an increase in global semiconductor sales this quarter, Samsung Electronics maintained its top position in the DRAM market share. SK hynix pushed out U.S.-based Micron to reclaim its second-place ranking.

According to market research firm TrendForce on Aug. 24, global DRAM sales for the second quarter amounted to approximately US$11.43 billion, marking a 20.4% increase from the previous quarter. TrendForce stated, “The increased demand for AI servers drove the growth in High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) shipments, and all three major DRAM suppliers saw increased shipments.”

Samsung Electronics, holding the number one market share, posted sales of US$4.53 billion in the second quarter, an 8.6% increase from the previous quarter’s $4.17 billion. However, its market share dropped by 4.3 percentage points, moving from 43.9% in the first quarter to 39.6% in the second quarter.

For SK hynix, its second-quarter DRAM sales surged by 48.9% to $3.44 billion from the previous quarter’s $2.31 billion. Its market share also rose from 24.4% to 30.1%, securing the second position.

TrendForce elaborated, “SK hynix saw a shipment increase of over 35% from the previous quarter, significantly due to the higher average selling price (ASP) of Double Data Rate (DDR) 5 and HBM.”

Micron, ranking third, reported second-quarter DRAM sales of $2.95 billion, a 15.7% increase from the previous quarter's $2.55 billion. However, their market share declined from 26.9% to 25.8%.

TrendForce analyzed, “Although Micron was somewhat late in HBM development, the substantial shipment proportion of DDR5 maintained a relatively stable ASP.”