S. Korean chipmakers sweep global DRAM market

Samsung Electronics Co. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's two largest makers of computer memory chips, dominated the global market for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips in the second quarter despite a looming global economic slowdown, a report showed Thursday. According to the report by Taiwan-based DRAMeXchange Technology Inc., Samsung accounted for 41.4 percent of the global DRAM market in the April-June period with sales of US$3.37 billion. DRAM chips are used in personal computers and other tech devices. Hynix Semiconductor, the runner-up in the industry, claimed a 22.8 percent share in the three-month stretch with $1.86 billion in sales, said the DRAMeXchange report. Samsung and Hynix claimed a combined 65.7 percent of the worldwide DRAM supply during the period. Japan-based Elpida Memory Inc. came in at third with $1.17 billion won in sales for a 14.4 percent market share, it said. It was followed by U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. with $883 million in sales for an 10.8 percent share. South Korean makers retained their dominant status in the worldwide liquid crystal display (LCD) market in the April-June period, according to the report. According to the report, Samsung placed first with a market share of 27.6 percent, or $5.37 billion in sales in the second quarter. LG Display Co. came in second, making up 26.4 percent with $5.07 billion in sales. Taiwanese firms came next, with Chimei Innolux Corp. as the third-largest LCD supplier with $3.06 billion for a 15.9 percent share. AU Optronix Corp. ranked fourth with $3.04 billion for a 15.8 percent share, the report said. DRAMeXchange also said that the price of the benchmark DDR3 1-gigabit 128Mx8 1066-megahertz device plunged 18.7 percent to a record-low US$0.61 for the first half of August from $0.75 for the second half of July. It's the lowest price for the 1-gigabit product since 2009. The prices have been on the decline, after hitting an all-time high of $2.72 in May last year. Another DRAM product, the DDR 4-gigabit SO-DIMM 1066-megahertz device, stood at $23.5 for the first half of this month, down 16.1 percent from two weeks ago.