Samsung benefits most from the memory crisis
The world's largest DRAM manufacturer is Samsung again. Quarterly revenue recently surged to $19.3 billion.
(Image: heise medien)
Samsung is once again snatching the title of the world's largest DRAM manufacturer from SK Hynix. While Samsung was just behind its competitor in the summer of 2025 in terms of revenue, the company managed to regain the top spot in the fourth quarter with a lead of more than two billion US dollars. The revenue increases for all manufacturers were almost exclusively due to price hikes.
Market observer Trendforce estimates Samsung's pure DRAM revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 at $19.3 billion, 43 percent more than in the third quarter. The estimate includes all DRAM products, from DDR5 memory for PCs and servers to LPDDR5X for notebooks and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for AI accelerators. Samsung itself only states its total memory revenue, including NAND flash chips for SSDs, in its business reports.
DRAM revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 broken down by manufacturer.
SK Hynix also saw significant growth, but at a slower pace than Samsung. DRAM revenue increased by 25 percent to $17.2 billion.
Micron benefited the least from the three global market leaders at the end of 2025: Revenue rose by a good 12 percent to just under $12 billion. Reportedly, Micron concluded supply contracts earlier than its competitors and was therefore only able to benefit from price increases later.
At the beginning of 2026, prices have risen significantly further; the distribution may have changed again meanwhile.
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Capacity stagnates
According to TrendForce, Samsung and SK Hynix expanded their production capacity by a few percent at the end of 2025. This is possible through higher utilization of existing semiconductor plants. More surprising, however, is Micron's approach: According to the market observer, the volume of memory sold (in GByte) decreased by four percent in the fourth quarter.
In relative terms, Taiwanese manufacturer Nanya grew the most, with an increase of almost 55 percent. However, despite its fourth place, the company is significantly behind: with $970 million, it has a market share of just 1.8 percent. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron together account for more than 90 percent. Nanya primarily produces memory for niche products, including DDR4 and DDR3 DRAM.
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