In the fourth quarter of last year, the share of Korean companies in the global DRAM market reached 71.6%. Both Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are raising their market share slightly, raising expectations for a DRAM supercycle this year.
A view of the clean room in the semiconductor production line located at Samsung Electronics Hwaseong Campus. / Provided by Samsung Electronics
According to a market research firm Trend Force report on the 5th, global DRAM sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 totaled $17.5 billion (about 1.98 trillion won), up 1.1% from the same period last year. Trend Force said, “As the US imposed sanctions on Huawei in China, Chinese smartphone makers such as Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi secured DRAM, leading to an increase in demand.”
Samsung Electronics is the number one in the industry. Its market share increased from 41.3% in the third quarter of last year to 42.1% in the fourth quarter. The sales amounted to $7.44 billion (about 8.4 trillion won), up 3.1% from the previous quarter.
SK Hynix’s market share increased from 28.2% to 29.5% over the same period. The sales amounted to $5.22 billion (about 5.8 trillion won), an increase of 5.6% from the previous quarter. Accordingly, the global DRAM market share of Korean semiconductor companies expanded from 69.5% in the third quarter of 2020 to 71.5%.
Micron in the US, which had a blackout at the end of last year, lost 2 percentage points from 25% to 23%. Sales decreased by 7.2%. Taiwan’s Nanya also lost its market share from 3% in the third quarter to 2.9%, and sales decreased by 0.7%.
Graphic = Gilwoo Park
The operating margin showed that all companies fell. It is believed that this was due to the fact that the average selling price (ASP) of DRAM in the fourth quarter of last year fell 5-10% from the previous quarter. Samsung Electronics’ operating margin fell from 41% to 36% in the third quarter, and SK Hynix from 29% to 26%.
Trend Force said, “Demand for PCs, mobiles, graphics, and consumer DRAM will remain stable in the first quarter of this year,” he said.
