DRAM revenues grow 12% in 2Q12, says DRAMeXchange

Jessie Shen, 7 August 2012

Worldwide DRAM revenues arrived at US$7.02 billion in the second quarter of 2012, up 12% from US$6.27 billion in the prior quarter, according to DRAMeXchange. But the figure reflects a 13.8% decline compared to a year ago, said the industry tracker.

Overall DRAM ASPs fell at a slower pace in the second quarter and some makers with large portions of commodity DRAM production even saw slight growth in ASPs, DRAMeXchange pointed out. Revenues were then able to generate a sequential rise in the second quarter, DRAMeXchange said.

Suppliers' transition to more advanced production process was another contributing factor, which made a positive contribution to the industry's overall bit growth in the second quarter, DRAMeXchange noted.

However, the DRAM sector in all of 2012 is set to see a contraction in revenues compared to last year, DRAMeXchange predicted.

Samsung Electronics continued to lead the global DRAM market with an almost 40% share in the second quarter, followed by SK Hynix with a 24.4% share, according to DRAMeXchange. The pair grabbed a combined 63.9% share in the quarter.

Third-ranked Elpida Memory saw its DRAM market share grow 0.5pp sequentially to 12.9% in the second quarter, DRAMeXchange disclosed. Micron Technology, which has agreed to buy Elpida, took a 12.5% share in the second quarter.

DRAMeXchange: Leading DRAM suppliers revenues and market share, 2Q12 (US$m)
	2Q12		1Q12		Revenue Q/Q
	Revenues	Share	Revenues	Share
Samsung	2,776	39.5%	2,597	41.4%	6.9%
Hynix	1,713	24.4%	1,501	23.9%	14.2%
Elpida	908	12.9%	776	12.4%	17.0%
Micron	875	12.5%	729	11.6%	20.0%
Nanya	341	4.9%	288	4.6%	18.7%
Winbond	131	1.9%	118	1.9%	11.3%
Powerchip	81	1.2%	72	1.1%	13.0%
ProMOS	38	0.5%	38	0.6%	(1.1%)
Others	159	2.3%	153	2.4%	4.0%
Total	7,023	100.0%	6,271	100.0%	12.0%

Source: DRAMeXchange, compiled by Digitimes, August 2012