Market Dominance

SK Hynix’s 20 Nano-Class 8Gb LPDDR3 memory chip.
SK Hynix’s 20 Nano-Class 8Gb LPDDR3 memory chip.

 

Samsung Electronics is enjoying a 23-year reign as the world’s No. 1 DRAM maker, and SK Hynix recaptured the runner-up position during the first quarter of this year. Stellar performance of the two companies proves that Korea is indeed a powerful nation in the semiconductor sector. 

According to market research firm IHS iSuppli, Samsung maintained its top DRAM maker spot in Q1 2014 with $12.678 billion in sales and a 37.2 percent share. Its market share is a 1.0 percent year-on-year gain. The Korean tech giant has never lost its iron-fisted grip of the worldwide DRAM market since 1992.

SK Hynix also posted a 1 percent year-on-year increase in its market share, from 26.8 percent to 27.8 percent. Sales of the two companies amount to two thirds of the global DRAM market. 

Meanwhile, Samsung also became the top-ranked mobile DRAM manufacturer with a 46 percent share, according to semiconductor e-commerce site DRAMeXchange. Given that the demand for mobile DRAM surpassed that for PC DRAM in Q1, the company is likely to maintain the top spot for the time being.

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