Market Monitor
DRAM Market Monitor
By Yole Intelligence —
Gain key insights into the ever-changing memory market with the DRAM market monitor
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DRAM market overview
- Market dynamics
- Revenue
- Shipments
- Pricing
- Quarterly revenue – near & long term
- CAPEX
- Supply vs. Demand
- Near-term pricing & supply outlook
Market shares
- Quarterly DRAM market shares
- Datacenter market shares
- Mobile market shares
- PC market shares
- Consumer market shares
- Automotive market shares
- Graphics market shares
DRAM demand
- Segment bit demand & share
- Datacenter
- PC
- Mobile
- Graphics
- Automotive
DRAM technology
- All DRAM shipments by technology
- Mobile shipments by tech
- Graphics shipments by tech
- All DRAM shipments by density
- Mobile shipments by density
- Graphics shipments by density
- Unit shipments
- Module shipments
- CXL forecast
DRAM supply
- Industry wafer production
- Industry process mix
- Bits per wafer
- Bits per wafer relative to leader
- Sources of bit growth
- Wafer production by technology
- Supplier roadmap
- Capacity updates
- Supplier production detail
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Key Features
- Five-year market forecast for supply including fab capacity and wafer production, process and technology roadmaps, and demand by market segment, including PC, Datacenter, Mobile, Automotive, and Consumer.
- Market shares from 2015-present by supplier, region, and segment
- Supplier financial data from 2015-present including revenue, ASP, operating cost per bit, and operating margin
- Detailed two-year quarterly ASP forecast for key DRAM components and modules
What's new
- New analysis of the emergence of DRAM out of the market downturn
- Updated DRAM market dynamics, highlighting current market conditions and latest supplier and market quarterly results
- Status of China’s memory efforts, and impacts from US/China trade disputes
- Updated supplier technology roadmaps, die teardown results, and fab construction updates
- Latest demand trends and DRAM usage by key segments and technologies
Monitor's Objectives
- Quarterly analysis of the DRAM market, historical and forecast, including market pricing, supply data by producer, demand by end-market, plus much more.
From recovery to expansion: DRAM's journey amidst generative AI advancements
With the growing demand for acceleration hardware for generative AI, the DRAM market is recovering, with HBM and data centers leading the way. Q4 2023 saw the average operating margin for the industry reach -1%, as Samsung and SK hynix were both profitable in the quarter. Additionally, Samsung gained 7 points of revenue share on strong shipment and pricing growth.
Fab utilization cuts have allowed for the normalization of OEM and supplier inventories, leading to a balanced supply and demand and a positive outlook for 2024. High-value products like HBM are expected to continue on their meteoric trajectory as they are critical components for data center AI acceleration.
In addition to data center AI demand, the wave of COVID-era PCs is beginning to require a system refresh, and new smartphones enabled with on-device generative AI are helping the demand for consumer DRAM.
DRAM: the backbone of the computing world
DRAM can be found everywhere. Without it, almost every aspect of the digital world would be impossible. It can be found in our smartphones, PCs, automobiles, and especially data centers. In fact, one way to improve the compute performance of a system is to design it with more DRAM.
Server and data center is the largest market segment for DRAM demand, accounting for almost 50% of bit shipments in 2023. The demand growth of DRAM in data centers is expected to outperform the broader DRAM market for the foreseeable future, especially as new technologies like HBM and CXL begin to take hold. However, in terms of supply and demand, it is possible to have too much DRAM. For instance, 2023 saw the lowest DRAM revenues since 2016 due to dramatic price decreases in the face of out-of-balance supply and demand, with DRAM suppliers slashing fab utilization to bring inventory levels back under control.
The technology required for manufacturing DRAM is capital-intensive and consists of leading-edge semiconductor processes. Since 2013, just three players have represented over 95% of the world’s DRAM supply and regularly compete for the industry’s highest-value sockets.
Recently, China has prioritized establishing semiconductor independence, in which memory plays an important role. Players like YMTC for NAND and CXMT in DRAM are well-funded and seeking to gain more than just a foothold. The DRAM market monitor provides critical insights into the competitive picture, market inflections, and the next main pocket for DRAM demand.
Micron Technology, Inc., SK hynix Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. , Nanya Technology Co., Powerchip Semiconductor Co., Winbond Electronics Corp., ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and more