According to South Korean media reports, SK Hynix surpassed Samsung Electronics in the first quarter and topped the global DRAM market. SK Hynix has successfully climbed to the top of the memory semiconductor industry with its high bandwidth memory (HBM) advantage, marking a significant shift in its market leadership position.
According to the DRAM market reports released by multiple market research companies for the first quarter of 2025, SK Hynix has surpassed Samsung Electronics and remains at the top of the list.
On June 3rd, TrendForce released an analysis report showing that SK Hynix's DRAM market sales in the first quarter reached $9.72 billion (market share of 36%), ranking first in the quarter for the first time. Samsung Electronics ranks second with 33.7% market share, while Micron ranks third with 24.3% market share. SK Hynix's market share slightly decreased from 36.6% in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 36%, but Samsung Electronics' share dropped significantly from 39.3% to 33.7%, allowing SK Hynix to surpass.
In early April, market research firm Counterpoint Research reported that SK Hynix led the global DRAM market with a 36% share in the first quarter of 2025, while Samsung Electronics had a 34% share.
In the first quarter of 2024, the market share gap between the two companies exceeded 10 percentage points, with Samsung Electronics at 43.9% and SK Hynix at 31.1%. However, by the fourth quarter of 2024, the gap rapidly narrowed, with Samsung Electronics at 39.3% and SK Hynix at 36.6%, leading to a reversal of the situation in 2025.
TrendForce attributes this to the increase in shipments of high-value products such as SK Hynix HBM3E, while Samsung Electronics' inability to directly sell HBM to China has led to a decrease in HBM3E shipments. At present, SK Hynix is actually the exclusive supplier of Nvidia's fifth generation HBM3E. In March of this year, SK Hynix provided samples of the next generation HBM4 (sixth generation) 12 layer product in advance. In contrast, Samsung Electronics is struggling to maintain its leading position due to the delay of over a year in obtaining Nvidia certification for its HBM3E product.
Samsung Electronics has taken extraordinary measures to regain competitiveness in the HBM field. They are implementing a selection and concentration strategy to reduce the production of old HBM models such as HBM2E and increase the production of the latest products. They plan to focus on the sixth generation HBM (HBM4). According to reports, Samsung Electronics is redesigning its 10 nanometer sixth generation (1c) DRAM to adapt to HBM4 applications. Compared with existing designs, the chip size has increased, and the yield and stability have also been improved.
Samsung previously announced in April that it had completed supplying samples of the improved HBM3E product to its major customers, and expected its sales contribution to gradually increase from the second quarter onwards. With the expansion of sales of the improved HBM3E product, HBM sales are expected to bottom out in the first quarter and gradually rebound in each quarter. The company stated that the development of HBM4 is proceeding as planned, with the goal of achieving mass production in the second half of the year and coordinating with the client's project schedule.
At the same time, the total sales of the global DRAM market in the first quarter decreased by 5.5% month on month to $27.01 billion. This is attributed to the decline in DRAM contract prices and the decrease in HBM shipments. However, TrendForce predicts that the DRAM market will resume growth momentum in the second quarter.
TrendForce estimates that in the second quarter, PC and smartphone manufacturers will cooperate with the 90 day reciprocal tariff grace period in the United States to complete inventory adjustments and increase production, driving a significant increase in shipments from DRAM suppliers.
