Although Samsung Electronics has lost a substantial portion of its market share in Q4 2009, it is still the world’s largest maker of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) followed by Hynix Semiconductor and Elpida Memory. It is noteworthy that DRAM revenue increased 42% during the last quarter of 2009.

According to DRAMeXchange market tracking firm, in Q4 2009 revenue has grown 42% QoQ to $8.682 billion due to the hiking DRAM price. DDR2 still remained mainstream memory standard in Q4 2009 and demand towards such memory type was much stronger compared to DDR3 since at the time there were almost no mainstream or entry-level platforms that supported DDR3. Based on DRAMeXchange checks, DDR2 average contract price sharply rose 61% in Q4 2009 while spot price also climbed 68%. 

Despite of 200mm fabs phase out, Samsung, the market leader, recorded $2.750 billion quarterly revenue with 26.5% quarter-over-quarter increase, 18% quarter-over-quarter bit growth rise and upward DRAM pricing trend. Its leading market share has slightly declined 3.9% to 31.7% due to the below-average revenue growth.

Hynix DRAM sales rose 42% to $1.871 billion given the 26% average price growth. Hynix also recorded 12% quarterly bit growth.

Elpida Memory earned $1.680 billion in revenue with 63.9% quarter-over-quarter boost as well as 30% bit growth. The company’s average selling price rose 30% sequentially, which may be attributed to increasing demand towards high-end memory.

Other top 10 DRAM vendors also tangibly increased their revenues in Q4 2009.

Tags: DRAM, Business, Samsung, Hynix, Elpida