Global DRAM sales grew for more than 30 % at the end of 2023

In the fourth quarter of 2023, DRAM industry revenue grew 29.6% quarter-over-quarter to $17.46 billion, TrendForce said in a recent report. This growth is driven by increased efforts by consumers to stockpile inventories and strict control of production volumes by leading manufacturers. In the current quarter, contract prices are expected to increase by 20% with a slight decrease in supply volumes.

The industry leader continues to be Samsung, whose revenue grew by 50% quarter-on-quarter to $7.95 billion, mainly due to DDR5 shipments and an increase in server DRAM shipments by more than 60% .SK hynix increased shipments by 1-3%, but thanks to the HBM and DDR5 segments, as well as server DRAM, it was able to increase the average selling price by 17-19% and increase revenue by 20.2% to $5.56 billion Micron saw an increase in volumes and prices of 4-6%, which allowed revenue to increase by 8.9% to $3.35 billion, although the shares of DDR5 and HBM are relatively low.

Samsung began restoring production in the first quarter, reaching capacity utilization of up to 80% after cutting back in the fourth quarter of 2023. Demand is expected to increase significantly in the second half of the year, leading to a continued increase in production capacity during the fourth quarter of 2024. SK hynix is actively expanding HBMcapacity, especially with the rollout of mass production of HBM3e. Micron is also ramping up its wafer production to increase the share of advanced 1-beta process technology for HBM, DDR5 and LPDDR5(X) products.

Taiwan’s Nanya is showing growth in volumes and prices, but due to the slow recovery of sales in the consumer sector, its revenue in the fourth quarter increased by 12.1% to $274 million. Winbond, having launched new capacity at the KH plant, is seeking to reduce inventories and expand its customer base without changing contract prices, its revenues increased by 19.5% to $133 million. PSMC increased spot and contract prices, stepped up deliveries to customers, and thanks to a low initial indicator, revenue in the DRAM segment increased by 110% to $39 million. PSMC’s total revenue, including semiconductor contracts increased by 11.6%.