sk Hynix overtakes Samsung as DRAM revenue drops 5.5% in Q1
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Samsung’s semiconductor challenges continue as it is overtaken by sk Hynix as the world’s largest supplier of DRAM memory chips.
The latest data from TrendForce shows that the global revenue for the DRAM industry reached US$27.01 billion in 1Q25, down 5.5% on the last quarter as a result of inventory corrections and the US-China trade war.
The two companies, along with Micron of the US, supply 95% of all DRAM memory chips. High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and low power DRR5 chips are in strong demand for AI datacentres, but the production of chips has been hit by a lack of supply of these devices and the slowdown in PC shipments.
Samsung redesigned its HBM3e chips to ease the HBM production squeeze but this prompted downstream players to clear inventories and extended the price declines seen since 4Q24.
PC OEMs and smartphone makers are expected to complete inventory corrections and ramp up system production ahead of the 90-day window of US reciprocal tariffs, so shipments are expected to increase. Prices are also expected to increase, marking a turnaround in the semiconductor market.
The DRAM market is a good indicator of the strength of the semiconductor business as a whole, contributing around a quarter of the market.
Despite a 7.1% drop in revenue, sk Hynix took the top spot with $9.72bn revenue. Samsung fell 19% to 9.1bn, while Micron saw revenue up 2.7% to $6.58bn from its expanded HBM3e shipments.
These three have also moved to more advanced process nodes for HBM3, 3e and 4 memory chips, and the market gaps are increasingly being filled by Taiwanese suppliers using mature processes. This supported growth at Nanya and Winbond for select LPDDR5 and LPDDR4 DRAM devices, although these are a tiny fraction of the market.
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