Samsung expands lead in 2Q12 NAND market, says DRAMeXchange

Jessie Shen, 6 August 2012

The worldwide NAND flash memory market posted revenues of US$4.22 billion in the second quarter of 2012, down 11.9% sequentially, according to DRAMeXchange. Samsung Electronics continued to lead the market with its share expanding to 42.4% in the second quarter.

Second-quarter NAND bit shipments increased 13% on quarter while ASPs fell by approximately 22%, DRAMeXchange said. Overall demand was weak causing an oversupply situation during the quarter.

"As the eurozone debt crisis lingers and global economic recovery is progressing slowly in the second quarter of 2012, the NAND flash market is seeing a harsher off-peak season than usual, with demand below manufacturers' expectations," DRAMeXchange noted in a statement.

Samsung's NAND revenues amounted to about US$1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2012, showing a 10.1% sequential increase. In comparison, the number two player Toshiba had US$953 million in NAND revenues, down 39.4% on quarter. Toshiba took a 22.6% share of the market in the second quarter, compared to 32.9% in the prior quarter.

Samsung in the second quarter moved to reduce its chip supply to the memory card and USB flash drive market, and raise that to fulfill more OEM orders for system products including smartphones, tablet PCs and SSDs. As a result, Samsung managed to grow its NAND revenues in the second quarter offsetting weakness in the memory card and USB flash drive market, DRAMeXchange observed.

Samsung reported an about 35% sequential rise in NAND bit shipments during the second quarter, with ASP slipping 18%, DRAMeXchange said. The firm saw its market share climb to more than 40% from 33.9% in the first quarter.

Second-ranked Toshiba suffered sequential decreases in both shipments and ASPs during the second quarter, which led to a significant drop in revenues, DRAMeXchange indicated. Toshiba's share of the global NAND flash market shrank from 32.9% in the first quarter to 22.6% in the second, DRAMeXchange said.

Micron Technology came in third place with a 15.4% share of the market in the second quarter, followed by SK Hynix with 11.9% and Intel with 7.8%, according to DRAMeXchange.