Infineon achieved DRAM sales of $1.16 billion in the first quarter, up 49 percent from $778 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Its market share went from 12.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005 to 17.5 percent nearly a 5 percent rise!

This helped the company gain several positions in market share rankings, according to the market research firm. Infineon claimed second position, the first time the company has been in that position, beating both Hynix and Micron.

Infineon's DRAM bit shipments grew by 30 percent compared to the 4Q05. The company also achieved a 6 percent rise in its DRAM ASP's, according to iSuppli as its deal with Microsoft to supply graphics specific memory for its Xbox 360 took off.

Graphics memories accounted for 16 percent of Infineon's DRAM bit shipments in the first quarter, up from 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005. The Microsoft deal assisted Infineon in also becoming the second largest producer of graphics specific DRAM beating Hynix for the first time.

"Hynix and Samsung in the first quarter reduced their rate of DRAM production increases, resulting in disappointing results for the companies," said Nam Hyung Kim, director and principal analyst, memory ICs/storage systems, for iSuppli. "These companies have been engaging in diversification efforts, shifting production from DRAM to more lucrative NAND flash parts."

Hynix and Samsung lost 2.1 and 2.8 percentage points of share respectively compared to the fourth quarter of 2005.

"Infineon's rise to the number-two rank in the global DRAM market lays the groundwork for the planned spin-out of the company's memory division, which will be called Qimonda," Kim said. "This shows that Qimonda has the potential to be a strong competitor in the DRAM market after it becomes independent."

Elpida Memory also benefited from increased DRAM bit growth. Sales rose to $640 million, up 34 percent from $478 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. The company attained a market share of 9.7 percent, up 2 points from 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter, maintaining a strong fifth-place position in the global DRAM market.

Nanya, Powerchip and Promos increased their DRAM sales by 7 percent, 9 percent and 5 percent respectively during the quarter.

Due to strong sales of commodity DRAM to the PC market, global DRAM sales in the first quarter increased by 7 percent, which is higher than iSuppli's original estimate.
iSuppli now  believes that 2006 will bring more shakeups in the global DRAM  rankings.