2Q11 sales ranking of branded NAND flash manufacturers

TAIWAN: According to DRAMeXchange, a research department of Trendforce, in early 2Q11 the NAND Flash market was affected by Apple’s unveiling of the iPad2 in early March.

Along with concerns about potential material shortages from the mid-March earthquake in Japan, this caused NAND Flash price to increase sharply. However, the market saw a reversal to a state of oversupply mid-to-late 2Q11 due to a combination of factors: the 2Q down season effect, weaker than expected tablet PC shipments, the European debt crisis, uncertainty amidst sluggish economic recovery worldwide, and the 2Q end-of-quarter effect.

Thus, in June many downstream clients turned their focus to decreasing inventory and slowing purchasing to counteract the effects of the down season, resulting in an overall 2Q11 average selling price (ASP) decrease of 15 percent QoQ for branded NAND Flash supply manufacturers. In terms of demand, memory card and UFD retail market demand was still weak, but as OEM orders from some tablet PC and smartphone clients continued to show steady growth, branded NAND Flash suppliers’ overall 2Q11 bit shipment growth increased by approximately 7 percent QoQ. As a result, overall 2Q11 sales for NAND Flash branded suppliers decreased approximately 9 percent QoQ to $4.88 billion.

Looking at the quarterly sales ranking for branded NAND Flash manufacturers, Samsung came in first again with $1.959 billion, 40.1 percent market share; Toshiba took second place with $1.357 billion, 27.8 percent of the market; Hynix came in third with $637 million, 13.1 percent of the market. Micron was fourth at $552 million, 11.3 percent of the market; and Intel placed fifth with $375 million, 7.7 percent of the market.Source: DRAMeXchange, Taiwan.

2Q11 operation analysis of branded NAND flash makers
Samsung Electronics: Although affected by weak memory card and UFD retail market demand in 2Q11, Samsung benefitted from OEM orders for embedded products from certain major smartphone and tablet PC clients. Thus, bit shipment growth for 2Q11 was over 10 percent QoQ, while ASP declined approximately 10 percent QoQ. As a result, 2Q11 sales remained fair at $1.959 billion and market share increased to 40.1 percent.

Samsung anticipates that OEM orders from system product clients will remain steady but memory card and UFD retail market demand will continue to be weak in 3Q11. Therefore, they estimate that their bit shipment growth will increase over 10 percent QoQ in 3Q11. However, in anticipation of a multitude of environmental uncertainties, Samsung will continue to increase production volume for 2xnm process technology products in order to strengthen cost competitiveness, as well as develop new embedded products and SSDs to raise the proportion of sales from system product clients.

Toshiba: Affected by the mid-March earthquake in Japan, Toshiba’s production volume for 2Q11 decreased. Fortunately, with OEM orders from major smartphone and tablet PC clients as well as memory card strategic partners, their bit shipment growth remained stable.

However, as a result of fallen prices and Japanese yen appreciation, 2Q11 sales decreased approximately 27.9 percent QoQ to $1.357 billion, 27.8 percent of the market. Toshiba will continue to increase output of 24nm process technology products to strengthen cost competitiveness.

Furthermore, Toshiba’s joint-venture 300mm Fab5 plant with SanDisk is slated to begin mass production in 3Q11. Toshiba will also develop embedded products and SSDs to continue increasing sales from system product clients, so as to meet demand growth from emerging smart mobile devices.

Hynix Semiconductor: Hynix increased sales from system product clients in 2Q11, in order to counteract weak demand from the memory card and UFD retail market and Korean Won appreciation effect. As a result, bit shipment growth increased 36 percent QoQ in 2Q11, but ASP fell 19 percent QoQ, causing 2Q11 sales to grow by approximately 11 percent QoQ to $637 million, 13.1 percent of the market.

In light of steady OEM orders from certain major smartphone and tablet PC clients, Hynix estimates that bit shipment growth will increase by about 20 percent QoQ in 3Q11. For 2H11, Hynix will continue to increase output of products from 2xnm process technology in order to strengthen their cost competitiveness, and develop embedded products and SSDs to increase sales from system product clients.

Micron: Last quarter, Micron increased production of SLC product combinations. This, along with the effect of the weak season, caused ASP to rise approximately 15 percent QoQ. However, quarterly bit shipment growth decreased by about 21 percent QoQ, resulting in a quarterly sales decrease of around 9.5 percent QoQ.

Micron’s sales amounted to $552 million, 11.3 percent of the market. In light of Micron’s process technology migration from 25nm node to new 20nm node, the company projects that ASP for current quarter will decrease by more than 10 percent QoQ.

Additionally, once Micron and Intel’s joint-venture 300mm fabrication plant in Singapore officially begins mass production in 2Q11, they have indicated they will gradually increase output based on market demand in 2H11. Micron also plans to increase sales of embedded products and SSDs for smart mobile devices.

Intel: Due to the weak season effect and the marked increase in SSD sales, Intel’s ASP fell and quarterly bit shipment growth increased. Thus, in 2Q11 sales were up by approximately 5.6 percent QoQ, totaling $375 million, 7.7 percent of the market.

The IM Flash camp was already leading the industry in 1H11, bolstering their cost competitiveness with the introduction of the 25nm 64 Gb TLC and 25nm SSD products. In 2H11 Intel will also begin producing 20nm process technology products, as well as continuing to increase sales from SSD clients.