Samsung's Market Share Inches up to 35.3%
Taiwanese market research firm TrendForce said on May 26 that Samsung Electronics’ NAND flash sales in the first quarter stood at US$6.32 billion, up 3.4 percent from the previous quarter. Its market share reached 35.3 percent, an increase of 2.2 percentage points compared to 33.1 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.
During the same period, global NAND flash sales reached US$17.92 billion, down 3.0 percent from the previous quarter. NAND sales dropped for two consecutive quarters, following a drop of 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Samsung Electronics benefited from the shutdown of a NAND flash plant operated jointly by Western Digital (WD) of the United States and Kioxia of Japan at the beginning of the year due to the contamination of raw materials, analysts say.
SK Group affiliates -- SK Hynix and Solidigm (formerly Intel's NAND flash business division) -- also logged an 18.0 percent share or US$3.225 billion, closely trailing Kioxia, which placed second with a market share of 18.9 percent.
SK Hynix stayed in fourth place with a market share of 14.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, but increased its market share by acquiring Solidigm, which ranked 6th with a 5.4 percent share, at the end of last year. Accordingly, Korean companies’ combined market share hit 53.3 percent, more than half.