For the first time last year, the so-called “Semiconductor Korea Alliance,” made up of Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., were reported to hold more than 20% of the world’s market. Samsung Electronics surpassed Intel, and SK Hynix entered the top three after Intel.
According to an HIS Markit report issued on the 18th, Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor sales last year surged 53.4 percent year-on-year to a total of 61.31 billion dollars, with a global market share of 14.5 percent. Samsung Electronics was able to beat Intel (61.6 billion dollars, 14.3 percent global share) by a narrow margin. It has been considered “the most stable company” for the past few decades.
SK Hynix’s market share totalled 26.38 billion dollars at 6.2 percent, beating Micron Technology (5.3 percent), Broadcom (4.0 percent), and Qualcomm (3.9 percent), moving up two notches from the previous year and ranking third place overall.
As a result, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix recorded a combined 20.7 percent shares, 5 percent greater than the previous year.
In just 2008, Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor sales was 16.02 billion dollars, less than half of that of Intel’s (33.995 billion dollars), with a mere market share of 6.5%. However, in 2010 the company’s sales rose to 20 billion dollars; in 2013, it continued to rise to 30 billion dollars; last year its sales totalled 60 billion dollars.
SK Hynix entered the “20 billion dollars” era when it increased its sales by 81 percent, compared to 2008, when the company’s sales were 6.23 billion dollars (2.3 percent shares). Ten years ago, the company was at the top ten but recently it has risen sharply.
Experts say that the memory sector is leading the global semiconductor market growth this year predicting higher market shares for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
In a recent report, IC Insights, a global market research company, raised its forecast for the global semiconductor market from 10 percent to 15 percent this year. The Average Selling Price (ASP) has risen significantly this year for DRAM and Nand flash, which are the two pillars of the memory sector, from 13 percent to 37 percent and from 10 percent to 17 percent, respectively.
