Samsung saw a massive drop in global market share across its key business segments last year. One of those segments was the DRAM business, which it has led for more than three decades. Unfortunately, things have changed now โ the Korean firm is no longer the leader in the DRAM market. Its rival, SK Hynix, took the lead for the first time in history with a 36% share in Q1 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. Samsung managed to capture a 34% share.
Counterpoint Research publishes DRAM market share for Q1 2025
High-bandwidth memory (HBM) is a type of 3D-stacked DRAM for next-gen AI processors, a rapidly evolving industry. Samsungโs fall in DRAM market share is mainly due to its inability to penetrate the HBM market early. SK Hynix holds the top spot with a 70% market share. This has directly impacted Samsungโs overall DRAM market share, with its compatriot leapfrogging it in Q1 2025.
โThis is a milestone for SK Hynix which is successfully delivering on DRAM to a market that continues to show unfettered demand for HBM memory,โ says Jeongku Choi, senior analyst. โThe manufacturing of specialized HBM DRAM chips has been notoriously tricky and those that got it right early on have reaped dividends.โ
According to Counterpoint Research, this trend will continue at least through the next quarter. โRight now the world is focused on the impact of tariffs, so the question is: whatโs going to happen with HBM DRAM?โ notes research director MS Hwang. โAt least in the short term, the segment is less likely to be affected by any trade shock as AI demand should remain strong. More significantly, the end product for HBM is AI servers, which โ by definition โ can be borderless.โ
While Samsung is losing its DRAM market share, its entire memory divisionโs operating profit has increased in Q1 2025. Analysts say the division could see a big jump in profit this year due to higher DRAM shipments and growing demand for the Galaxy S25. Maybe itโs a sign of good things to come for Samsung in this space. The Korean firm has also reportedly increased the prices of DRAM and NAND flash memory by 3โ5%.
