Will SK Hynix Overtake Samsung Electronics? This Month's Financial Report Will Reveal Who Takes the DRAM Throne

Driven by the demand for artificial intelligence (AI), South Korean chip manufacturing giant SK Hynix is likely to replace its competitor Samsung Electronics as the world's largest supplier of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM).

In the decades-long competition between Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, Samsung's DRAM has always held a dominant position.

According to data from Counterpoint Research, as the main supplier of NVIDIA's high-bandwidth memory (HBM), SK Hynix captured 36% of the DRAM market in the January-March quarter this year, while Samsung Electronics held 34%. Prior to this, in the fourth quarter of last year, Samsung Electronics, which had held the "crown" in the DRAM market for over 30 years, saw its operating profit fall below that of SK Hynix for the first time.

MS Hwang, Korea Research Director at Counterpoint Research, stated, "This is another wake-up call for Samsung. SK Hynix's leading position in HBM chips may help HBM account for a larger share of the company's operating profit during the same period."

According to the timetable, SK Hynix is expected to release its latest financial report for the first quarter of this year on Thursday, April 24. Analysts predict that in the quarter ending in March, SK Hynix's sales will grow by 38% quarter-on-quarter, and operating profit will surge by 129%.

Samsung will provide a complete quarterly financial statement, including net income and segment breakdown, by the end of this month (April 30). Earlier this month, the company announced preliminary operating profit of 6.6 trillion won ($4.6 billion) and revenue of 79 trillion won.

Challenges Ahead

DRAM is a type of memory most commonly used to process data in computers and servers, while HBM chips are composed of stacked DRAM chips, which increases the amount of data they can handle. HBM chips are crucial for hardware like NVIDIA's graphics accelerators in training AI models.

Counterpoint Research's Hwang noted that SK Hynix has further expanded its lead in the HBM field, with data showing the company captured 70% of the HBM market in the first quarter.

Research firm TrendForce predicts that by 2025, SK Hynix will account for more than half of the HBM market, Samsung's share will drop to just below 30%, and Micron Technology's share will rise to nearly 20%.

However, the global memory chip market faces challenges from repeated US tariffs and an increasingly severe global economic downturn.

Morgan Stanley analyst Shawn Kim and his team stated in a report to investors, "Under larger factors, the earnings season will no longer be significant. The real impact of tariffs on memory chips is like an iceberg, with most dangers hidden beneath the surface but still approaching."