"Big Brother Is Back": Samsung, Fueled by Fierce Resolve, Overtakes SK Hynix to Reclaim DRAM No. 1 Throne After 33 Years

Samsung Electronics reclaimed the No. 1 position in the global DRAM market in the fourth quarter of last year, one year after losing the top spot. Attention is focusing on whether the company will further solidify its DRAM leadership on the back of its 6th-generation High Bandwidth Memory, HBM4, which it recently became the first in the world to mass-produce and ship.

According to market research firm Omdia on the 22nd, total revenue in the global DRAM market in the fourth quarter of last year came to 52.470 billion dollars (about 75.9 trillion won), up by roughly 12 billion dollars from the previous quarter.

Of this, Samsung Electronics' DRAM revenue rose 40.6% quarter-on-quarter to 19.156 billion dollars (about 27.7 trillion won). Its market share climbed by 2.9 percentage points to 36.6%, putting it in first place.

During the same period, SK Hynix's DRAM revenue increased 25.2% to 17.226 billion dollars (about 24.9 trillion won), but its market share fell from 34.1% to 32.9%, dropping it to second place. Samsung Electronics' return to No. 1 in the global DRAM market came one year after the fourth quarter of 2024, when it held a 38.1% share.

Product photo of Samsung Electronics' 6th-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM4). Samsung Electronics.

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Previously, in the first quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics ceded the top spot for the first time to SK Hynix, which rapidly expanded its revenue and market share on the strength of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). It was the first reshuffle in rankings in 33 years since Samsung Electronics became the global No. 1 in the DRAM market in 1992.

However, in the fourth quarter, the company recaptured the DRAM lead by sharply increasing sales of HBM3E (5th generation) and commodity DRAM riding a price uptrend, leveraging the industry's largest capacity (production capability).

In its earnings conference call last month, Samsung Electronics said, "We expanded HBM sales in the fourth quarter and responded to demand with high value-added products such as high-capacity DDR5 and low-power, high-performance DRAM (LPDDR5X)," adding, "The average selling price (ASP) of DRAM rose by around 40% quarter-on-quarter, driven by overall market price increases and a sales mix centered on high value-added server products."

During this period, the market share of US-based Micron fell from 25.8% to 22.9%, while that of China's CXMT inched up from 3.7% to 4.7%.

Samsung Electronics is expected to accelerate its defense of the No. 1 DRAM position by expanding sales of commodity DRAM while simultaneously strengthening its presence in the market with a focus on HBM4.

Samsung Electronics' HBM4, which can deliver speeds of up to 13 Gbps (13 gigabits per second), will be installed in Nvidia's latest AI accelerator, "Vera Rubin." Industry watchers believe Samsung Electronics will expand HBM supply not only to Nvidia but also to major global big tech companies.

Accordingly, the company is expected to secure around a 30% share of the overall HBM market this year, while its HBM revenue is projected to more than triple from a year earlier. SK Hynix also plans to soon begin full-scale supply to Nvidia and thereby maintain its leadership in the HBM market.

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