DRAM sales slump as Dramurai play musical chairs

MARKET RESEARCH firm iSuppli said that an analysis it has undertaken of market share by DRAM manufacturers shows that Hynix has displaced Micron from its second ranking position.

This, said the firm, is the sixth time in the last eighteen months that the second has been third and the third has been second.

The firm said that Hynix sold $939 million worth of DRAM in the second calendar quarter, down 13 per cent from $1.08 billion in Q1. Micron sales were down by 23.6 per cent in Q2 with revenues of $840 million.

Meanwhile, according to analysts at iSuppli, weakness hit the whole DRAM sector in Q2, with "tepid demand" forcing prices down. Revenues for DRAM fell to $5.7 billion in the period, down 13 per cent from Q1, with three of the top four Dramurai showing double digit percentage declines in sales.

Analyst Nam Hyung Kim from iSuppli said that Hynix is slowing down its shift to NAND flash in favour of DRAM production in Q3. Micron will also shift to DRAM in Q3.

And, said Kim, Samsung, despite remaining number one, also was hit by less revenues in Q2, while, he said, Infineon was the star of the show, with revenues declining only two per cent. µ

Preliminary ranking of top 10 DRAM
suppliers in Q2 2005, in $ millions
Table courtesy: iSuppli

Q2 Rank	Q1 Rank	Company	Q2 Revenue	Q1 Revenue	Percent Change	Q2 Market Share	Cumulative Percentage
1	1	Samsung	$1,749	$2,043	-14%	30.6%	30.6%
2	3	Hynix	$939	$1,083	-13%	16.4%	47.0%
3	2	Micron	$840	$1,100	-24%	14.7%	61.7%
4	4	Infineon	$774	$790	-2%	13.5%	75.3%
5	5	Elpida	$397	$443	-10%	6.9%	82.2%
6	6	Nanya	$325	$333	-2%	5.7%	87.9%
7	7	Powerchi p	$291	$329	-12%	5.1%	93.0%
8	8	ProMos	$194	$250	-22%	3.4%	96.4%
9	10	Winbond	$43	$34	26%	0.8%	97.1%
10	NA	ISSI	$36	$21	76%	0.6%	97.8%
		Others	$127	$148		2.2%	100.0%
		Total	$5,715	$6,574	-13%	100.0%