Several major Taiwanese dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip suppliers saw their sales in the third quarter of this year tumble by around 40 percent from a quarter earlier due to weakening global demand, according to Taipei-based market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp.
In a research report issued earlier in the week, TrendForce said Nanya Technology Corp., the DRAM production arm of the Formosa Plastics Group conglomerate, posted US$362 million in sales in the July-September period, down by 40.8 percent from a quarter earlier, as its global market share fell slightly to 2 percent from 2.4 percent but it held on to its position as the fourth-largest supplier globally.
TrendForce said consumer DRAM accounted for a large portion of Nanya Technology’s product portfolio and many of its clients were from China, which was why its sales had been impacted so significantly with its sales decline the highest among the top six suppliers in the world.
Winbond Electronics Corp., another Taiwanese DRAM supplier, posted US$150 million in sales in the third quarter, down by 37.4 percent from a quarter earlier, with its market share falling to 0.8 percent from 0.9 percent, though it continued to occupy the global No. 5 spot, TrendForce said.
Earlier this month, Winbond announced it would cut production by more than 30 percent in its complex located in the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP) in the fourth quarter of this year, reflecting falling global demand for DRAM chips, which are used commonly in PCs and servers.
Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (PSMC), a Taiwan-based contract chipmaker that also rolls out standard DRAMs, was in sixth place after generating US$38 million in sales in the third quarter, down by 40 percent from the second quarter with its global market share unchanged at 0.2 percent, according to TrendForce.
In the third quarter, DRAM sales worldwide fell by 28.9 percent from a quarter earlier to US$18.19 billion, as demand for consumer electronics devices continued to weaken amid inventory adjustments by clients, pushing down product prices, TrendForce said.
The sequential sales decline was the steepest since the 2008 financial crisis, TrendForce added.
Although Nanya Technology, Winbond, and PSMC are among the top six DRAM suppliers in the world, they lag far behind their foreign competitors.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. continued to be the largest DRAM supplier in the world in the third quarter, when the company posted NT$7.40 billion in sales, down by 33.5 percent from a quarter earlier as inventory adjustments failed to yield a satisfactory result.
The company saw its global market share fall to 40.7 percent in the third quarter from 43.5 percent in the second quarter.
SK Hynix Inc., also from South Korea, came in second after posting US$5.24 billion in sales in the third quarter, down by 25.2 percent from a quarter earlier, while its market share rose to 28.8 percent in the third quarter from 27.4 percent in the second quarter, TrendForce said, adding that the company had slowed down its pace in process migration to cap production.
U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc. was in third place after generating US$4.81 billion in sales in the third quarter, down by 26.4 percent from a quarter earlier, though its market share rose to 26.4 percent from 24.5 percent, according to TrendForce.
Due to the unfavorable market conditions, TrendForce said, Micron, which has been cautious about 2023, has postponed commercial production of its 1 beta DRAM process.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel