According to new data released by DRAMeXchange, Hynix grew sales by 15.4 percent in 3Q07 compared to the previous month.  This growth was due to a combination of 17 percent Q-on-Q shipment growth and a slight increase of 3 percent ASPs via the contract market. 

Hynix with its manufacturing partner ProMOS has been growing market share since 1Q06 through to 3Q07. In 1Q06 they had a 17.5 percent share of the DRAM market, which has steadily grown to 26.6 percent by 3Q07 - 1 percent higher than Samsung’s 25.5 percent. Indeed, Samsung’s share has remained relatively flat throughout the period covered!

Market share gains by Hynix have been at the expense of Qimonda and its manufacturing partners as well as Micron since 1Q06. Elpida has also seen a slight decline in market share but with the significant partnership with PSC yet to kick in, both Qimonda and Micron may well be set for further market share declines in 2008.

DRAMeXchange also noted that it expects 90 percent bit growth for 2007 resulting in further ASP declines before the end of the year. Although new capacity growth is declining, not only are DRAM manufacturers not cutting production, they are speeding up node migrations to reduce costs and continue bit growth via the increase in die per wafer and improvements in yield in 2008.

This will result in continued oversupply through 2Q08, according to DRAMeXchange.