"Global NAND Sales Down 2.1% in Q4 Last Year... Samsung Down 6.1%"

Average Selling Price (ASP) Drops Nearly 5% in Q4

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Global NAND flash sales in the fourth quarter of last year decreased by 2.1% compared to the previous quarter due to a decline in unit prices. Samsung Electronics, the industry leader, saw its NAND sales drop by 6.1%. However, recent production disruptions at competitors' NAND factories may lead to a rebound in NAND prices starting from the second quarter of this year, allowing Korean semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to expect a windfall.

On the 23rd, market research firm TrendForce reported that NAND flash shipments in the fourth quarter of last year increased by only 3.3% compared to the previous quarter. This is a significant slowdown compared to nearly a 10% increase in shipments in the third quarter of last year. As the NAND flash market shifted to oversupply, the average selling price (ASP) fell by nearly 5% in the fourth quarter. NAND sales recorded $18.5 billion, a 2.1% decrease from the previous quarter.

Samsung Electronics, the number one in the NAND industry, recorded NAND sales of $6.111 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, down 6.1% from the previous quarter. Its market share slightly declined from 34.5% in the third quarter to 33.1%, but it remains the undisputed industry leader.

SK Hynix, ranked fourth in the industry, saw its sales increase by 2.8% to $2.615 billion compared to the previous quarter. Despite its market share rising from 13.5% in the third quarter to 14.1% in the fourth quarter, its industry ranking dropped one notch from third to fourth. However, when including the market share of its subsidiary Solidigm (formerly Intel's NAND business unit), SK Hynix's total NAND flash market share in the fourth quarter of last year reached 19.5%, making it the second largest after Samsung Electronics.

Second-ranked Kioxia recorded sales of $3.5436 billion, a 2.6% decrease. Its market share fell by 0.1 percentage points from the previous quarter to 19.2%. The third place in the industry was taken by the U.S. company Western Digital (WDC). WDC's sales surged by 5.2% to $2.62 billion. Its market share also rose by 1 percentage point from 13.2% in the third quarter to 14.2% in the fourth quarter.

TrendForce forecasted that the first quarter of this year is traditionally the off-season for the NAND flash industry, and combined with seasonal declines, the oversupply of NAND will continue. Product price declines are inevitable for the time being.

However, due to production disruptions at NAND factories jointly operated by WD and Kioxia, the timing of the NAND price rebound is accelerating, and market conditions are expected to improve from the second quarter. The semiconductor industry expects NAND prices to rebound by 5-10% in the second quarter of this year, considering that WD and Kioxia hold a 32.5% share of the global NAND flash market and the timing for the normalization of NAND factory operations remains uncertain.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.