The State of DRAM Market In The First Quarter 2003

by Anton Shilov
05/14/2003 | 07:52 AM

iSuppli research-firm released its research note concerning the state of memory market in the first quarter of 2003. The company says that all memory makers that were among the first five DRAM vendors on the planet in Q4 last year retained their positions, however, there are still some important facts concerning their actual market share as well as financial performance of these companies. 

Top 5 Worldwide DRAM Vendors In Q1 2003 According to iSuppli
Rank	Company	Market Share	Sequential Share Change	Revenue
1	Samsung	31.1%	-3.8%	$1112 million
2	Micron	19.6%	+1.8%	$701
3	Infineon	17.1%	+4.2%	$613
4	Hynix	12.4%	-0.1%	$444
5	Nanya	4.4%	-1.5%	$156

Here are some comments in regards the Top 5 companies published by Silicon Strategies based on iSuppli research note:

• Samsung Electronics continues to be the number one DRAM supplier and the number one DDR SDRAM supplier on the planet in terms of units. Samsung’s market share decreased in Q1 in contrast to the shares of nearest competitors who were able to expand their market presence. Revenue of the Korean memory maker decreased 23% sequentially, though, the company remained its profitability and positive operating margin. 72% of DRAMs shipped by Samsung in Q1 are DDR SDRAM memory chips. Samsung ASPs are higher compared to other DRAM vendors.
• Micron was able to expand its market share by 1.8% thanks to its inventory clear-out effort it embarked in the first quarter. DDR SDRAM accounted 49% of Micron shipments.
• Infineon Technology AG was probably the most-successful DRAM vendor in the first quarter. Infineon’s share jumped up 4.2% from the fourth quarter of 2002 what is very positively for the German-based company. DDR SDRAM represented 79% of total DRAM shipments of the company, up 20% sequentially. iSuppli says that 5% of the company’s DRAM shipments were produced by Winbond Electronics. In fact, Infineon’s sales grew substantially this quarter, meanwhile Winbond’s revenue declined 33%.
• Hynix Semiconductor’s market share remained practically flat in the first quarter, though, the company managed to ramp up production of DDR SDRAM. Reportedly 70% of its DRAMs shipped in the Q1 were DDR SDRAM chips compared to roughly 40% in the previous quarter.
• Nanya, who currently ships only DDR SDRAM suffered from declining DDR prices and its share was substantially down. Revenue of the company dropped 36% sequentially.

According to iSuppli, currently DDR SDRAM shipments account for 66.4% of the whole DRAM market. Due to declining prices on such chips the quarter was not really positive for DRAM makers.