Samsung Electronics Sees Market Share Rise Despite Memory Semiconductor Downturn

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jaehee] Despite the global economic recession, Samsung Electronics' market share in the memory semiconductor sector reportedly increased in the fourth quarter of last year.

According to Taiwan-based market research firm TrendForce on the 6th, global enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) sales in the fourth quarter of last year amounted to $3.79 billion, a 27.4% decrease compared to the previous quarter.

Weak demand and price declines were cited as the main causes.

By company, Samsung Electronics, ranked first, recorded enterprise SSD sales of $1.78 billion in the fourth quarter, down 16% from the previous quarter. However, its market share rose by 6.3 percentage points from 40.6% in the third quarter to 46.9% in the fourth quarter.

TrendForce stated, "Samsung Electronics offers a variety of products and maintains technological superiority," adding, "Samsung Electronics is expected to firmly hold its leading position in the enterprise SSD market this year as well."

SK Hynix and its subsidiary Solidigm ranked second with fourth-quarter sales of $720 million, a sharp 40.6% drop from the previous quarter. Their market share also fell from 23.2% to 19.0%.

Third-place Western Digital (WDC) posted fourth-quarter sales of $493 million, down 26.7% from the previous quarter.

Fourth and fifth places were held by Japan's Kioxia ($491 million) and the U.S.'s Micron ($308 million), with their sales decreasing by 12.2% and 53.1%, respectively, compared to the previous quarter.

On the 31st, Samsung Electronics announced consolidated sales of 70.4646 trillion KRW and operating profit of 4.3061 trillion KRW for the fourth quarter of last year. The photo shows the Samsung Seocho Building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Samsung Electronics' annual performance recorded sales of 302.2314 trillion KRW and operating profit of 43.3766 trillion KRW. Compared to the previous year, sales increased by 8.09%, but operating profit decreased by 15.99%. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Samsung Electronics also increased its market share alone in the global DRAM market in the fourth quarter of last year.

According to TrendForce, global DRAM sales in the fourth quarter totaled $12.281 billion, down 32.5% from the previous quarter.

Samsung Electronics' fourth-quarter sales were $5.54 billion, a 25.1% decrease from the previous quarter, but its market share rose by 4.4 percentage points from 40.7% to 45.1%.

The decline in Samsung Electronics' sales was smaller than the average sales decline of the overall market.

While other DRAM manufacturers saw both sales and market share decrease, Samsung Electronics solidified its overwhelming number one position.

Industry analysts suggest that Samsung Electronics is increasing its market share by leveraging superior cost competitiveness.

Samsung Electronics has maintained its stance of not implementing artificial production cuts to balance short-term supply and demand despite the downturn in the memory semiconductor market.

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