Samsung Electronics returns to throne in global memory chip market in Q3

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. returned to the top spot in the global market for memory chips in the third quarter, data showed Tuesday, after losing the position to SK hynix Inc. in the previous quarter.

The combined sales of memory chips by Samsung, including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory, came to US$19.4 billion in the July–September period, up 25 percent from a quarter earlier, according to the data compiled by industry tracker Counterpoint Research.

SK hynix, which overtook Samsung in the second quarter, saw its sales in the segment rise 13 percent on-year to $17.5 billion in the third quarter.

The researcher attributed Samsung's robust performance to strong demand for DRAM and NAND flash memory, noting that the company is expected to post a full-fledged recovery next year on the back of new generations of high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.

Counterpoint added Samsung is likely to maintain the top spot in the fourth quarter as well.

"Samsung Electronics faced challenges in the first half due to sluggish HBM performance but regained the top spot after making proactive efforts to improve product quality," Choi Jeong-ku, a researcher at Counterpoint, said.

colin@yna.co.kr
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