NAND flash prices surged over 50% in the second quarter of this year, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix maintaining their positions as the top two players in the global market, together accounting for nearly half of the market share.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics secured the top spot with a 28% market share based on revenue in the second quarter, down 1 percentage point from 29% in the previous quarter but still leading the market.
SK Hynix ranked second with a 19% market share. Combined, the two South Korean companies hold 47% of the global NAND revenue, representing about half of the market.
The sharp rise in NAND prices has also heightened expectations for improved profitability in both companies' NAND businesses. Counterpoint Research reported that NAND prices jumped 55% compared to the previous quarter. This price increase contributed to a 70% rise in global NAND market revenue during the same period, following a 90% increase in the first quarter, marking two consecutive quarters of significant growth.
Historically, NAND has faced greater oversupply pressure compared to DRAM, but recent investments in AI infrastructure have led to increased demand for high-capacity products, such as enterprise solid-state drives (eSSD), rapidly improving market conditions.
Given their substantial market shares, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are expected to benefit significantly from the price increases. Notably, as NAND products have a high proportion of general-purpose items, the rise in average selling prices (ASP) directly impacts revenue and profitability. Both companies are also strengthening their responses in the high-value eSSD market, anticipating benefits from the expansion of AI data center investments.
Competition from latecomers is intensifying. Micron focused on high-end product sales, increasing its market share from 13% in the first quarter to 15% in the second quarter, securing third place.
China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) expanded its market share to 14%, closing in on Micron by just 1 percentage point. Notably, YMTC's second-quarter revenue exceeded Counterpoint Research's previous expectations, indicating that the influence of Chinese companies in the market is growing more rapidly than anticipated.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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