Flash rankings tighten as market grows in Q2

In total, iSuppli estimates that flash revenue in the second quarter of 2004, including multichip packages (MCPs), was $4.3 billion, a 6.2 percent sequential increase from the first quarter. The second quarter brought growth for NOR flash memory unit and revenue sales, while NAND shipments declined, according to iSuppli.

Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the first quarter remained the world's number-one flash supplier with revenue of $907 million. However, the company's sales declined sequentially by 4.6 percent in the second quarter, giving it a market share of 21.2 percent, compared to 23.6 percent in the first quarter.

Japan's Toshiba Corp. retained its second-place ranking with revenue of $740 million, although a sequential sales decline of 2.6 percent contributed to a market share decrease to 17.3 percent, down from 18.8 percent in the first quarter.

Spansion, the joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Fujitsu Ltd., remained in third place with revenue of $673 million. The company achieved sequential growth of 7.2 percent and a market share of 15.7 percent, compared to 15.6 percent in the first quarter.

Intel continued to be the fourth-largest supplier of flash memory, with a market share of 13.7 percent, compared to 10.3 percent in the first quarter. The company posted the best performance of all flash suppliers in the second quarter, with its revenue growing 40.8 percent from the first quarter to reach $587 million, and its market share increasing by 3.4 percentage points.

ST Microelectronics rose from sixth to fifth place in the second quarter, displacing Renesas Technology Corp. The company posted flash revenue of $314 million, representing sequential of 11.3 percent. The company achieved a market share of 7.3 compared to 7 percent in the first quarter.