Samsung regains global No. 1 spot in DRAM

According to Financial News, Samsung Electronics reclaimed the No. 1 position in the global dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) market in the fourth quarter of last year, winning back the “DRAM crown” it had ceded to SK hynix after one year. Attention is now focused on whether the company can maintain its lead in DRAM, backed by High Bandwidth Memory 4 (HBM4), which it recently became the first in the world to mass-produce and ship.
Market research firm Omdia reported on the 22nd that total global DRAM revenue in the fourth quarter of last year reached $52.407 billion, up about $12 billion from the previous quarter. This is equivalent to approximately 75.9 trillion won.
Of that total, Samsung Electronics’ DRAM revenue came to $19.156 billion, a 40.6% increase from the previous quarter. Its market share rose 2.9 percentage points to 36.6%, putting the company in first place.
During the same period, SK hynix posted DRAM revenue of $17.226 billion, up 25.2%. However, its market share slipped from 34.1% to 32.9%, pushing it down to second place.
This marks Samsung Electronics’ return to the top of the global DRAM market for the first time in a year, since it held a 38.1% share in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Earlier, in the first quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics lost the No. 1 spot for the first time to SK hynix, which rapidly expanded its revenue and share on the back of HBM. It was the first change in rankings in 33 years, since Samsung Electronics became the world’s No. 1 in the DRAM market in 1992. However, in the fourth quarter, Samsung sharply increased sales of HBM3E high-bandwidth memory (HBM3E), its fifth-generation HBM, and general-purpose DRAM that benefited from rising prices, leveraging its industry-leading production capacity to regain the top position in DRAM.
In its earnings conference call last month, Samsung Electronics said, "In the fourth quarter, we expanded HBM sales and responded to demand with high-value-added products such as high-capacity DDR5 and LPDDR5X (Low Power Double Data Rate 5X) low-power, high-performance DRAM." The company added, "The average selling price (ASP) of DRAM rose by around 40% quarter-on-quarter, driven by overall market price increases and a sales mix centered on high-value server products."
Samsung Electronics is expected to accelerate efforts to defend its No. 1 DRAM position by expanding sales of general-purpose DRAM while strengthening its presence in the market with HBM4. Samsung’s HBM4, which can deliver speeds of up to 13 Gbps (13 gigabits per second), will be installed in NVIDIA’s latest AI accelerator, "NVIDIA Vera Rubin." Industry observers expect Samsung Electronics to expand HBM supply not only to NVIDIA but also to other major global big tech companies.
As a result, Samsung is projected to secure around a 30% share of the overall HBM market this year, with HBM revenue expected to more than triple compared with the previous year.
SK hynix also plans to begin full-scale supply to NVIDIA soon and aims to maintain its leadership in the HBM market.

soup@fnnews.com Im Su-bin Reporter