"Big Brother Is Back": Samsung, Fired Up After Losing the Throne for the First Time in 33 Years, Overtakes SK Hynix to Reclaim No. 1 in the DRAM Market

36.6% Market Share in Q4 Last Year to Rank No. 1
Reclaiming the Top Spot After Falling Behind SK Hynix in Q1
Boost from Increased Sales of HBM3E and Commodity DRAM

Samsung Electronics regained the top spot in the global DRAM market in the fourth quarter of last year, one year after losing it. Attention is now focused on whether the company will further solidify its DRAM leadership by leveraging its sixth-generation High Bandwidth Memory, "HBM4," which it recently became the first in the world to mass-produce and ship.

According to market research firm Omdia on the 22nd, total revenue in the global DRAM market in the fourth quarter of last year came to 52.470 billion dollars (about 75.9 trillion won), up about 12 billion dollars from the previous quarter.

Among this, Samsung Electronics’ DRAM revenue reached 19.156 billion dollars (about 27.7 trillion won), a 40.6% increase from the previous quarter. Its market share rose by 2.9 percentage points to 36.6%, putting it in first place.

During the same period, SK Hynix’s DRAM revenue grew 25.2% to 17.226 billion dollars (about 24.9 trillion won), but its market share fell from 34.1% to 32.9%, dropping it to second place. Samsung Electronics’ return to No. 1 in the global DRAM market came one year after the fourth quarter of 2024, when its share was 38.1%.

Product photo of Samsung Electronics' 6th-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM4). Samsung Electronics.

Previously, in the first quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics ceded the No. 1 position for the first time to SK Hynix, which rapidly expanded its revenue and market share on the back of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). It was the first change in rankings in 33 years since Samsung Electronics became No. 1 in the global DRAM market in 1992.

However, in the fourth quarter, Samsung reclaimed the DRAM lead by significantly increasing sales of HBM3E (5th generation), as well as general-purpose DRAM that benefited from rising prices, leveraging the industry’s largest capacity (production capability).

In its earnings conference call last month, Samsung Electronics stated, “We expanded HBM sales in the fourth quarter and responded to demand with high value-added products such as high-capacity DDR5 and low-power, high-performance DRAM (LPDDR5X),” adding, “The average selling price (ASP) of DRAM recorded an increase of around 40% quarter-on-quarter, driven by overall market price hikes and a sales mix centered on high value-added server products.”

During this period, the market share of Micron in the United States fell from 25.8% to 22.9%, while the share of China’s CXMT inched up from 3.7% to 4.7%.

Samsung Electronics is expected to accelerate efforts to maintain its No. 1 DRAM position by expanding sales of general-purpose DRAM while simultaneously strengthening its presence in the market with a focus on HBM4.

Samsung Electronics’ HBM4, which can deliver speeds of up to 13 Gbps (13 gigabits per second), will be mounted on Nvidia’s latest AI accelerator, “Vera Rubin.” Industry watchers expect Samsung Electronics to expand its HBM supply not only to Nvidia but also to other major global big tech companies.

As a result, Samsung Electronics is projected to secure around a 30% share of the overall HBM market this year, with its HBM revenue expected to more than triple from the previous year. SK Hynix also plans to soon begin full-scale supply to Nvidia and thereby maintain its leadership in the HBM market.