Market research data has been released showing that SK hynix has topped the global DRAM market, surpassing Samsung Electronics.
According to global market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 9th, SK hynix held a 36% market share in the DRAM market for the first quarter of this year, while Samsung Electronics trailed at 34% and Micron at 25%. SK hynix was reported to have a dominant 70% share in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) market.
Last year's fourth quarter market research agency TrendForce noted that Samsung Electronics held a 39.3% market share in the DRAM market to secure first place, while SK hynix followed in second place with a 36.6% share. Although Samsung Electronics' share fell by 1.8 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, SK hynix increased its share by 2.2 percentage points during the same period, narrowing the gap.
Hwang Min-seok, director at Counterpoint Research, said, "In the short term, demand for artificial intelligence (AI) is strong, so the HBM market is less likely to be affected by trade shocks," adding, "AI servers, which are the main application for HBM, are part of a 'borderless' product category and thus are less affected by trade barriers."
SK hynix is currently supplying its flagship 5th generation HBM (HBM3E) 12-layer products to major customers including NVIDIA, and it has also expedited the supply of samples for the subsequent 6th generation HBM (HBM4) 12-layer products as compared to the original plan.