Mobile DRAM Market Saw Good Quarterly Result

Driven by the huge shipments of mobile devices, mobile DRAM revenue increased to US$2.89 billion from US$2.6 billion, a quarterly growth of 11.1%, boosting its proportion to 34%, according to DRAMeXchange.

South Korea-based manufacturers, mainly including Samsung and SK Hynix, are still the leader with market shares reaching 75.9%. Specifically, Samsung saw a little downturn in the second quarter of this year, due to supply to its smartphone and other mobile devices; while SK Hynix becomes the largest winner, taking the second place in global DRAM market.

The prosperity of Chinese local mid- and low-end smartphones is the major contributor, driving its growth rate reaching 31.6% and pushing its market share to 25.7%, said DRAMeXhcange. If high-end smartphone expands its saturation, and mid- and low-end smartphone continues its leading trend, SK Hynix is projected to continue its good performance.

The merge between Micron and Elpida, leaving three major DRAM manufacturers, is a large thing to DRAM market. In addition to the supply chain change, including price moving toward steady, and suppliers focusing on process technology, IC Insights said the acquisition make the 43-year DRAM industry finally comes to maturity. Based on IC Insights, the DRAM average selling price is expected to jump 40% and lift total DRAM market growth 28%.

Before the merger, Micron took only 3.4% share among the global mobile DRAM market in the second quarter. In the second quarter, driven by stronger demand and mobile DRAM from Rexchip in the second quarter, Elpida’s mobile memory revenue increased by 15.9% quarter-over-quarter, with market share rising to 19.3%, which largely increases the US firm’s DRAM sales.

The remainders of the top-six were rounded out by Taiwan-based Winbond Electronics and Nanya Technology, which had market shares of 1% and 0.3%, respectively, said DRAMeXchange.