Micron, Infineon battle for second place in DRAM chart

While Samsung continues to rule the RAM roost, the real cock-fight is for the number two position, with Micron coming increasingly under pressure from Infineon, according to the latest data from DRAM market watcher Semico.

For the first six months of 2003, Micron held 21.2 per cent of the market. Infineon took 18.5 per cent. For 2002 as a while the figures were 18.5 per cent and 12.9 per cent, respectively.

So even as Micron closes on Samsung's H1 2003 share of 29.1 per cent (31.7 per cent in 2002), Infineon is narrowing the gap between second and third place even more quickly.

Semico puts that down to the German company's focus on high-end 333MHz and 400MHz DDR SDRAM parts, and successfully tightening 300mm wafer production costs. The researcher expects Infineon to narrow the gap with Micron even further during the second half of the year.

Samsung's lead is unlikely to be seriously challenged, however. Semico reckons it will close 2003 will a market share of 36 per cent or more, thanks to increasing demand for the same 333 and 400MHz memory parts that is boosting Infineon.

Together, Samsung, Micron and Infineon accounted for almost 69 per cent of the market during the first half of the year. During 2002, they accounted for 63 per cent of DRAM sales.

The remaining DRAM players of note during H1 2003 were Hynix (15.3 per cent), Nanya (4.9 per cent), Winbond (2.6 per cent), ProMos (2.2 per cent) and Powerchip (2.1 per cent). All the rest accounted for the remaining 0.6 per cent. ®

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