Samsung continues to rank first in DRAM and NAND market share

by ddos · January 30, 2023

Samsung has maintained its leading position in the semiconductor memory industry for many years. It has ranked first in the NAND flash memory market for 20 consecutive years, and in the DRAM market for 30 years. Its market share is more than 10% ahead of its competitors. According to Business Korea, Samsung’s technology leadership is threatened as other manufacturers start to make efforts in the DRAM and NAND flash memory markets.

Micron announced in May last year the launch of the industry’s first 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory, which will start production at the end of 2022. It adopts the CuA architecture and uses NAND’s string stacking technology, with an initial capacity of 1 TB. In August, YMTC released the fourth-generation 3D TLC flash memory chip based on Xtacking 3.0 architecture, named X3-9070. In the same month, SK hynix announced the successful development of the world’s first 238-layer NAND flash memory with the highest number of layers in the industry, and has sent samples of 238-layer 512Gb TLC 4D NAND flash memory to partners.

In contrast, Samsung did not begin mass production of products using the 8th generation V-NAND technology until November last year, which is a 236-layer 1Tb TLC 3D NAND flash memory chip. At the same time, YMTC’s X3-9070 has already been mass-produced and used in a variety of products in the retail market.

As of the third quarter of 2022, Samsung’s DRAM market share is 40.6%, SK Hynix’s is 29.9%, and Micron’s is 24.8%. In the NAND flash memory market, Samsung’s market share is 31.6%, Kioxia’s is 21.1%, SK Hynix’s is 19%, Western Digital’s is 12.4%, and Micron’s is 11.8%. While the gap in market share looks wide, rivals are eroding Samsung’s technological dominance.

According to industry insiders, the quality of YMTC’s 232-layer NAND flash memory is unexpectedly high, so Samsung is very concerned. Samsung has also been chased by latecomers in the memory market and is approaching step by step. In addition, TSMC is far ahead in the foundry business, and Samsung is facing huge challenges.

Samsung continues to rank first in DRAM and NAND market share

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