May 1, 2007 – It was an ugly first quarter of 2007 for most DRAM firms, and the biggest benefit by attrition seems to be Hynix Semiconductor Inc., which significantly narrow the gap between No. 1 supplier Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., according to preliminary data from iSuppli Corp.
Overall DRAM sales slumped 9.9% in 1Q07 to $9.67 billion, though still 49% growth from a year ago. Total DRAM unit growth of 21% Q-Q beat expectations — in fact it was the highest growth rate since 3Q02, Kim noted — and offset the punishing 26% Q-Q decline in ASP in 1Q.
The only top DRAM firm to show any sales increase in 1Q, Hynix managed a 4% gain to $2.15 billion, more than doubling sales from a year ago. Barely missing flat sales Q-Q were No. 4 Elpida ($1.20 billion, -0.1%) and No. 6 Powerchip ($527.0 million, -0.2%). Nearly all the other top DRAM firms did worse than the total market’s -9.9% sales decline in 1Q07, including Samsung ($2.524 billion, -15.9%), No.3 Qimonda ($1.255 billion, -16.2%), and No. 7 Nanya ($510.0 million, -22%).
Hynix’s leap was due to higher-than-expected production using 80nm process technologies and pulling in more capacity from NAND flash operations, noted Nam Hyung Kim, iSuppli director and principal analyst, in a statement. That also gave the firm a big boost in unit shipments, putting the Korean firm on top of unit shipments for the first time ever (470 million units, +45% growth), while Samsung posted just 7% higher unit shipments.
Also moving up the charts in 1Q was Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc., which pushed unit shipments up 40% in the quarter while managing to keep sales roughly flat. The firm passed Micron in 4Q06 for the No. 4 spot in terms of revenue market share, and is closing in on No.3 Qimonda.
Kim noted that the quarter of Hynix, Elpida, ProMos, and Powerchip all exceeded the DRAM market’s Y-Y unit shipments, as each more than doubled its bit production growth compared with a year ago — suggesting that their respective partnerships (Hynix/Promos and Elpida/Powerchip) are growing and taking share from competitors.
Preliminary DRAM revenues, 1Q07
(US $M)
Company…..1Q07 revenues……vs 4Q06………………vs. 1Q06………….1Q07 share
Samsung……….2524.0……………3001….-15.9%…….1805.0…..40%……..26.1%
Hynix……………..2150.0……………2065…….4.1%……….953.0…126%……..22.2%
Qimonda………..1255.0……………1498….-16.2%…….1092.0…..15%……..13.0%
Elpida…………….1197.0……………1198…….-0.1%……..626.0…..91%………12.4%
Micron……………..880.0……………1024….-14.1%………886.0……-1%………..9.1%
Powerchip……….527.0………………528……-0.2%……..259.0….103%……….5.4%
Nanya……………..510.0………………661….-22.8%……..445.0……15%………..5.3%
ProMos……………398.0………………496….-19.8%……..213.0…..87%………..4.1%
Etron………………….85.0………………..89…….-4.5%……….70.0…..21%………..0.9%
Winbond…………….45.0………………..55….-18.2%………..29.0…..55%……….0.5%
Others………………..99.0……………113.0….-12.4%……..116.0…..-15%………1.0%
TOTAL…………..9670.0…………10,728…….-9.9%…….6494.0…..49%……100.0%
Preliminary DRAM units, 1Q07
(512Mbit equivalents in millions of units)
Company…….1Q07 units……..vs 4Q06………………vs. 1Q06………………..1Q07 share
Hynix………………470.0………324.0….45%………181.9…..158%……………….22.7%
Samsung………..461.0………431.3……7%………261.0…….77%………………..22.3%
Elpida……………..284.0………203.0….40%………111.6…..154%……………….13.7%
Qimonda…………262.0………245.9…..7%……….202.5…….29%………………..12.7%
Micron…………….171.4………149.0….15%………159.0………8%………………….8.3%
Powerchip………160.0………119.0….34%………..74.5…..115%…………………7.7%
Nanya……………..124.4………114.6…..9%…………98.6……26%………………….6.0%
ProMos……………108.0……….92.5….17%…………51.5…..110%…………………5.2%
Others……………….27.1……….23.4….16%…………18.0……51%………………….1.3%
TOTAL…………..2067.8……..1702.7…21%…….1158.6…..78%……………….100.0%
WaferNEWS source: iSuppli Corp.