Second-Quarter DRAM Market Grows 60%; Samsung Electronics Leads with 39.4% Share

[Financial News] The global DRAM market grew by nearly 60% in the second quarter of this year from the previous quarter. Samsung Electronics maintained its lead with a market share in the 39% range, widening its gap with second-ranked SK hynix.
On the 7th, market research firm TrendForce reported that global DRAM market revenue reached $154.73 billion (approximately 208 trillion won) in the second quarter, up 59.5% from the previous quarter.
The increase was attributed to higher shipments of various memory products as demand for large language model (LLM) training and artificial intelligence (AI) inference expanded.
While memory makers’ inventories remained at historically low levels, DRAM shipments increased only slightly in the second quarter. Shipment growth is also expected to remain limited in the third quarter.
DRAM price increases are also expected to moderate somewhat. TrendForce forecast that DRAM prices would rise by only 13% to 18% in the third quarter from the previous quarter.
TrendForce explained, "Some demand is shifting from high-capacity products to lower-capacity products, while PC and smartphone customers are also finding it increasingly difficult to absorb further price increases."
By company, Samsung Electronics ranked first with second-quarter revenue of $60.98 billion (approximately 82 trillion won), up 63.4% from the previous quarter. Samsung Electronics recorded the largest shipment growth among the three major memory makers, helped by the early mass production of HBM4. As a result, its market share rose 0.9 percentage points, from 38.5% in the first quarter to 39.4% in the second quarter.
SK hynix retained second place with revenue of $38.59 billion (approximately 52 trillion won), up 37.9% from the previous quarter. However, its average selling price (ASP) growth was relatively limited because of its high proportion of HBM shipments. Its market share fell from 28.8% in the first quarter to 24.9% in the second quarter.
Third-ranked Micron posted revenue of $36.0 billion (approximately 48 trillion won), up 65.5% from the previous quarter. Its market share rose from 22.4% to 23.3% over the same period, narrowing the gap with SK hynix.
TrendForce forecast that Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Micron would accelerate their transition to advanced process technology and pursue higher shipments in 2026 and 2027, although the increase would be limited.
By contrast, Taiwanese companies such as Nanya Technology, Winbond Electronics, and PSMC are expected to maintain their growth by focusing on mature-process products and absorbing demand that the three major memory makers cannot adequately address.
[email protected] Park Ji-yeon Reporter