DRAM prices up in second quarter

FIGURES RELEASED by memory watch site DRAM Exchange showed that Samsung is still top dog in the memory market, but Taiwanese firms continue to make inroads.

The firm said worldwide DRAM shipments grew by 15.5 per cent in Q2, compared to the first quarter of 2006. "Tight supply" of DDR and DDR2 in Q2 led to an increased average selling price.

But global capacity in Q2 was boosted by the Taiwanese Dramurai - ProMOS and PowerChip. These two are in league with Japanese Elpida and Korean Hynix, respectively.

Chinese player SMIC lost a decline in market share during Q2, according to this DRAM Exchange data below - showing revenues, including foundry revenues, in $000s.

Rank	Vendor	Q2 2006	QonQ	Share	Q1 2006
1	Samsung	2,014	14.5%	24.8%	1,759
2	Qimonda	1,195	10.1%	14.7%	1,086
3	Hynix	1,180	23.9%	14.5%	952
4	Micron	1,037	2.8%	12.8%	1,009
5	Elpida	808	22.7%	10.0%	658
6	Powerchip	578	27.1%	7.1%	455
7	Nanya	538	17.5%	6.6%	458
8	ProMOS	358	47.1%	4.4%	244
9	Winbond	145	26.2%	1.8%	115
10	SMIC	104	-8.5%	1.3%	114
	Others	158	-10.5%	2.0%	177
	Total	8,116	15.5%	100%	7,026

These figures appear to show that US memory maker Micron (tick: MU) hasn't done at all well increasing its share. Qimonda is the spun off division of Infineon. µ

L'INQ
DRAM Exchange