Global DRAM Industry Revenue Grows By 13.6% Quarter Over Quarter, Samsung Still Leads With Around 41% Market Share

Micron saw a huge 28.3% growth in the third quarter of 2024, but Samsung maintained 1st position, followed by SK Hynix.

Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron see significant growth, but Taiwanese DRAM suppliers saw a noticeable decline in revenue

The latest report from TrendForce shows that the demand for DRAM is growing noticeably. Even with the shipment decline of LPDDR4 and DDR4 memories, the DRAM market continues to see some significant growth due to demand for DDR5 and HBM memories. 

According to the latest stats, the DRAM market grew by 13.6% in revenue in Q3 2024 compared to Q2 2024. This marks a $3.1 Billion revenue increment Quarter-over-Quarter, jumping from $22.9B to $26.02B. The key players keep growing with Samsung retaining its first place in the DRAM market, having a share of 41.1% in Q3 2024, which is a 1.8% decrease over Q2 2024. Despite the share decrease, Samsung saw a 9% QoQ growth in revenue.

Both SK Hynix and Micron saw a 13.1% and 28.3% increase in revenue, respectively, with SK Hynix staying almost at the same market share, but Micron’s share increased from 19.6% to 22.2%. Micron saw a huge growth in both server DRAM and HBM3e shipments, which resulted in a 13% revenue increase in QoQ. Micron has been aggressive in production and bringing high-end memory chips such as HBM3E with 36 GB capacity and 9.2 Gbps speed.

SK Hynix is also one step ahead and recently unveiled its first 16-Hi HBM3E memory with 48 GB capacity per stack. Unfortunately, Taiwanese suppliers like Nanya, Winbond, and PSMC saw a noticeable decrease in revenue by -17.9%, -8.6%, and -27.6%, respectively. The key player, Nany,  saw a revenue decrease to just $252M from $307M QoQ. Winbond dropped from $168M to $154M, and PSMC (Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation) dropped by $6M ($24M->$18M).

That said, even though the top players saw a good revenue jump, they are still trimming down their DRAM supply and are instead focusing on upgrading the existing equipment, reports DigiTimes. Both Digi Times and TrendForce report that Chinese DRAM companies are increasing their DRAM shipments, which may appeal to OEMs and mobile brands to buy DRAM at lower prices from these companies.

This may result in decreased contract prices for both DRAM and even HBM memories. Overall, the DRAM revenue is forecasted to increase even further in Q4 2024, and Chinese DRAM suppliers are expected to drive the market upwards significantly as well.

News Source: TrendForce