Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. clung to its DRAM market lead in the first quarter, according to market researcher iSuppli Corp., cranking up production as competitors retreated in response to weak market conditions and a U.S. economic recession.
ISuppli (El Segundo, Calif.) reported Thursday (May 1) that Samsung's DRAM sales totaled $1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2008, or 30.6 percent of the global DRAM market. Samsung's global DRAM market share rose 0.4 percent over the fourth quarter of 2007.
The bad news for competitors was that the overall DRAM market declined by 7.4 percent during the same period. As a result, the market researcher said "DRAM market conditions now have bottomed out, and there is no further room for declines. If the market hasn't bottomed out yet, OEM DRAM buyers will encounter major risks of DRAM supply-chain disruptions because some suppliers are facing serious financial issues, and potentially could leave the business."
No. 2 Hynix Semiconductor Inc. trailed Samsung in DRAM market share, registering an 8.4 percent sequential decline in revenues. No. 3 DRAM supplier Elpida Memory Inc. of Japan increased DRAM production during the first quarter, resulting in 1.5 percent gain in global market share to 14.5 percent.
The Japanese DRAM maker benefited from manufacturing partnerships with Germany's Qimonda AG and a foundry technology agreement with United Microelectronics Corp. of Taiwan.
In posting a quarterly loss this week, Chinese DRAM maker Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. said it was exiting from the DRAM market.
ISuppli warned that global DRAM revenue declined 7.4 percent in the first quarter to $5.9 billion compared to the previous quarter. Overall, iSuppli said the DRAM market was awash in red ink in the first quarter with no DRAM supplier generating a profit.
It predicted that Samsung would continue to pursue a "game of chicken" in an attempt to leverage its overall strong balance sheet to bury its competitors in the second quarter.
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