Hynix overtakes Micron in NAND flash ranking

LONDON – SK Hynix Ltd. grew its share of the branded NAND flash market in the fourth quarter of 2012 and pushed Micron Technology Inc. down into fourth position, according to DRAM Exchange, part of market research firm TrendForce Corp.

At the same time Samsung retained its dominant position at the top of the ranking with 38.7 percent of the market despite losing a few tenths of a percent of market share to second ranked Toshiba.

The total revenue for branded NAND flash in 4Q12 was $5,304 million, up 14.6 percent sequentially, TrendForce said. The total revenue from branded NAND flash supplier sales in 2012 is $19.062 billion, about a 6.6 percent decrease compared with 2011.

The increased sales in 4Q12 is due to a tightening of the supply-demand situation resulting from the commencement of replenishment sales for new models of smartphone and tablet computer and due to the effect of production cuts implemented by Toshiba, the firm said.

As a result while average selling prices (ASPs) for NAND flash chip in 4Q12 remained the same as in 3Q12 bit shipments from branded NAND flash suppliers grew by about 15 percent sequentially.

In 4Q12 the ranking order was: Samsung, Toshiba, SK Hynix, Micron and Intel. Samsung retained first place with a revenue of $2,054 million, about 38.7 percent market share; Toshiba sold $1,466 million or 27.6 percent of the market; SK Hynix is third with $673 million, 12.7 percent of the market; Micron slipped to fourth with $655 million, 12.3 percent of the market; Intel is fifth with 455 million, 8.6 percent of the market.

For the whole of 2012 the order was Samsung, Toshiba, Micron, SK Hynix and Intel. Samsung, Micron and Intel grew market share compared with 2011 at the expense of Toshiba and SK Hynix.

Samsung's 2012 NAND flash sales were $7,286 million, about 38.2 percent market share; Toshiba sold $5,322 million for 27.9 percent of the market; Micron with $2,648 million of annual NAND flash sales captured 13.9 percent of the market; SK Hynix is fourth with $2,261 million and 11.9 percent of the market; Intel is fifth with 1,545 million, 8.1 percent of the market.


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