Channel Register®

Original URL: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2004/11/12/dram_market_q3_04/

Hynix, Micron neck-and-neck in Q3

DRAMurai jostly for second place as Samsung grows market share

By Tony Smith

Posted in IT Channel, 12th November 2004 12:03 GMT

Free whitepaper – Solid State Drives and High-Speed Memory

Having fallen behind South Korea's Hynix in Q2, US memory maker Micron managed to draw level with its rival during Q3 despite an almost negligible increase in overall DRAM sales.

So market watcher Gartner Dataquest's latest figures show. Q3 worldwide DRAM revenues were up just 0.2 per cent on Q2 to $6.9bn, but up 39.7 per cent on the year-ago quarter.

Samsung remained the market leader, increasing its market share from 29.7 per cent to 31.4 per cent in the process, just as it did between Q1 and Q2.

Micron and Hynix ended Q3 level-pegging, both with 15.2 per cent of the market and both down on the previous quarter, Micron by just 0.1 percentage points, Hynix by 1.5 percentage points. By revenue, Micron's was up 1.9 per cent sequentially to $1.04bn while Hynix saw revenues fall nine per cent from $1.14bn in Q2.

Gartner attributed Hynix's Q3 decline, coming after a strong second quarter, to falling average selling prices.

Fourth-placed Infineon also saw its market share slide, despite a 1.5 per cent increase in sales, from Q2's $941m to Q3's 955m. Elpida, like Infineon, retained its ranking - number five - but experienced a big jump in sales: up 16.7 per cent to $455m, enough to push its share of the market from 5.4 per cent to 6.6 per cent. ®

 

Q3 Worldwide DRAM Vendors
Rank Vendor Q3 Revenue Q3 Market Share Q2 Revenue Q2 Market Share Change
1 Samsung $2.16bn 31.4% $2.06bn 30.1% 4.6%
2 Hynix $1.04bn 15.2% $1.14bn 16.7% -8.7%
2 Micron $1.04bn 15.2% $1.02bn 14.9% 1.9%
4 Infineon $955m 13.9% $914m 13.8% 1.5%
5 Elpida $455m 6.6% $390m 5.7% 16.7%
  Others $1.21bn 17.6% $1.29bn 18.8% -6%
  Total $6.85bn   $6.84bn   0.2%

Related stories

Hynix overtakes Micron in world DRAM chart [1]
Micron employees fixed DRAM prices [2]
Infineon and ProMOS kiss and make up [3]
Toshiba takes Hynix to task in patent clash [4]
Hynix bullish despite Q3 sales, income slip [5]
Rambus sales, earnings rise on royalties [6]
Renesas seeks Nanya DRAM ban [7]
Elpida announces '$990m' IPO [8]
Hynix guilty of accounting fraud [9]
Hynix pumps up 2004 capex [10]
Infineon pleads guilty to memory price-fixing [11]