NAND Market
Last year, Samsung Electronics maintained its position as the top-ranked NAND flash memory chipmaker in the world, helped by the exponential growth of the SSD market.
According to market research firm IHS on April 6, the global SSD market was estimated at US$7.996 billion in 2013, a 43.4 percent year-on-year gain from the US$5.577 billion of 2012. The market is expected to expand 39.1 percent year-on-year to reach US$11.119 billion this year.
Samsung maintained its top spot in the SSD market last year with a 26 percent market share by turning over US$2.52 billion in 2013, a year-on-year increase of US$1.27 billion. HIS predicted that the Korean tech giant would post US$2.912 billion in sales this year.
As a result, the firm retained its top NAND flash memory chipmaker spot in 2013 with sales of US$8.961 billion and a 32 percent market share, outperforming Toshiba (US$8.8 billion in sales, a 29 percent market share), Micron (US$4.21 billion in sales, a 15 percent market share), and SK Hynix (US$3.15 billion in sales, an 11 percent market share).
An industry source said, “Samsung is likely to lead the SSD and NAND flash memory markets for another three years,” adding, “Therefore, it is necessary for SK Hynix to fiercely compete with Toshiba and Micron.”