Worldwide DRAM revenue increases 36.7%: Gartner

Worldwide dynamic random access memory (DRAM) revenue reached $16.2 billion
in 2002, a 36.7 percent increase from 2001, according to preliminary statistics
released by Gartner Dataquest.

Samsung Electronics strengthened its position as the #1 DRAM supplier,
increasing its revenue marketshare to 31 percent, more than 13 percent ahead of
its nearest rival (see Table 1). Micron Technology and Hynix Semiconductor saw
their marketshares drop in 2002, but held onto their rankings as the #2 and #3
vendors, respectively.

"Samsung had an exceptional year, and contrary to its rivals, it managed
to make a profit throughout the year," says Andrew Norwood, Senior Analyst,
Gartner Dataquest. "Samsung’s revenue was strengthened by its high
exposure to premium price products, such as Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) and Double Data
Rate static RAM (DDR SRAM)."

Hynix Semiconductor’s revenue increased 23 percent in 2002, but its
marketshare declined from 2001 results. "Hynix has been losing share in
some of the big accounts, and its low percentage of premium products has kept
revenue growth below the overall industry average," says Andrew. Infineon
Technologies saw strong revenue growth in 2002, and increased its marketshare to
12 percent, but failed to catch up with Hynix. "This is the first time
Infineon Technologies has broken the 10-percent barrier," informs Andrew.
"This is also the eleventh consecutive year the company has managed to
increase its marketshare."

Overall, Japanese DRAM vendors had a tough year. "Japan, once the DRAM
powerhouse country, has been pushed into last place. Japanese vendors now only
control 12 percent of the market, compared with 21 percent in 2001," says
Andrew. This is a marked change from 1986 when Japanese vendors controlled 78
percent of the market.

Preliminary Top 10 Worldwide DRAM Vendors by Revenue Estimates (Millions of U.S. Dollars) COMPANY REVENUE 2002 MARKETSHARE (%) 2002 REVENUE 2001 MARKETSHARE (%) 2001 GROWTH (%) 2002-2001 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS 4,992 30.8 3,200 27 56 MICRON TECHNOLOGY 2,791 17.2 2,260 19.1 23.5 HYNIX SEMI -CONDUCTOR 2,104 13 1,716 14.5 22.6 INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES 1,981 12.2 1,154 9.7 71.7 ELPIDA MEMORY 1,032 6.41 1,011 8.5 2.1 NANYA TECHNOLOGIES 785 4.8 273 2.3 187.7 OTHERS 2,526 15.6 2,242 18.9 12.7 TOTAL MARKET 16,212 100 11,856 100 36.7 Note: Micron Technology’s revenue includes Toshiba’s commodity DRAM revenues for the first quarter of 2002. Source: Gartner Dataquest (December 2002)

Gartner Dataquest analysts said Taiwanese vendors had an exceptional year, as
they secured 14 percent of the market in 2002, compared with 8.4 percent in
2001.

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