Samsung Electronics was tallied as having risen to No. 1 in memory chip sales in the third quarter of this year. It regained the top spot just one quarter after ceding the global memory chip No. 1 position to SK hynix in the second quarter of this year.
According to global market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 14th, Samsung Electronics posted $19.4 billion (about 27.67 trillion won) in sales in the third-quarter overall memory market, including DRAM and NAND flash, while SK hynix recorded $17.5 billion (about 24.96 trillion won). Compared with the previous quarter, sales at Samsung Electronics and SK hynix rose 25% and 13%, respectively.
Counterpoint Research analyzed, "Samsung Electronics regained the No. 1 position on the back of strong demand for commodity DRAM and NAND, and HBM, which struggled this year, is also expected to begin full-fledged growth from next year thanks to HBM3E (fifth generation) and HBM4 (sixth generation)."
Counterpoint Research projected that, with this recovery trend, Samsung will maintain its No. 1 position in the memory market in the fourth quarter as well. However, in the third quarter, it appears not to have reclaimed the top spot in DRAM, as opposed to NAND.
Earlier, Samsung Electronics yielded the dominant HBM market in the first quarter of this year to SK hynix and, for the first time in 33 years, lost the "global DRAM No. 1" position. In the second quarter, SK hynix also took the No. 1 spot in sales for the entire memory market, including NAND, for the first time ever.
Choi Jeong-gu, a principal analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, "Samsung Electronics struggled in the first half due to sluggish HBM, but it succeeded in a counterattack this quarter by regaining quality through intensive efforts and recaptured No. 1," adding, "Unfortunately, it narrowly failed to reclaim No. 1 in the DRAM market, but we expect strong performance from fifth-generation HBM (HBM3E) next year and wider adoption of sixth-generation HBM (HBM4)."