SK Hynix steals the DRAM dominance crown from Samsung's head

Samsung is losing its grip on the DRAM market as SK Hynix continues to eat away at what was once a completely Samsung-dominated sector of the industry.

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A new report from Korean media has claimed SK Hynix has now stolen away the DRAM crown from Samsung, a position the company held strongly for approximately 10 years. What has SK Hynix done to achieve this newfound success? HBM technologies are the driving factor behind SK Hynix climbing to the top of the DRAM market, with the company positioning itself to become the first option for any HBM needs.

Reports indicate that Samsung has experienced the most significant drop in market share since the company began sharing its records in 1999, with the Korean giant dropping from 41.5% to 32.7%.

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One of the biggest blows to Samsung's stake in the DRAM market was it losing a contract to NVIDIA, which was picked up by SK Hynix. NVIDIA, being the most valuable company on the planet, needed DRAM for its highly sought after GPUs. Samsung losing NVIDIA as a customer is estimated to have cost the company billions of dollars, and with SK Hynix securing NVIDIA as a customer, it has continued to grow its market percentage up to 36.3%, marking the first time SK Hynix has overtaken Samsung in 33 years.

As for the future, it currently remains unknown how Samsung will claw its way back to the top of the DRAM market, as reports indicate the company is currently working on HBM3E, while SK Hynix has already become the first firm to produce a full-scale HBM4 solution.