3Q11 sales ranking of branded NAND flash manufacturers

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: According to DRAMeXchange, a research department of Trendforce, suffering from the European debt storm and American financial disputations, 3Q restocking demand recovery was postponed until early September. However, demand from the memory card & UFD channel market remained weak in July and August, except for stable OEM orders from certain smartphone and tablet PC customers.

Additionally, many downstream customers still tried to lower excess inventory in July and August. NAND Flash price has stabilized since September, as the restocking demand for 4Q11 new product launches from some system product makers warmed up in early September. Therefore, overall 3Q11 average selling price (ASP) decreased 14 percent QoQ for branded NAND Flash supply manufacturers.

Memory card and UFD retail market demand was weaker than the stable OEM orders from some tablet PC and smartphone clients in 3Q11. Branded NAND Flash suppliers’ overall 3Q11 bit shipment growth increased by approximately 28% QoQ. As a result, overall 3Q11 sales for NAND Flash branded suppliers increased approximately 9.6 percent QoQ to $5.347 billion.

Looking at the quarterly sales ranking for branded NAND Flash manufacturers, Samsung came in first again with $2,003 million, 37.5 percent market share; Toshiba took second place with $1,692 million, 31.6 percent of the market; Hynix came in third with $633 million, 11.8 percent of the market. Micron was fourth at $603 million, 11.3 percent of the market; and Intel placed fifth with $415 million, 7.8 percent of the market.Source: DRAMeXchange, Taiwan.

3Q11 operation analysis of branded NAND flash makers
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd: Although affected by weak memory card and UFD retail market demand in 3Q11, Samsung benefitted from OEM orders for embedded products from certain major smartphone and tablet PC clients. Thus, bit shipment growth for 3Q11 was about 20% QoQ, while ASP declined approximately 15 percent QoQ. As a result, 3Q11 sales slightly increased to $2,003 million and market share decreased to 37.5 percent.

Samsung anticipates that OEM orders from some smartphone and tablet PC clients will remain steady in 4Q11. Therefore, they estimate that their bit shipment growth will increase over 10 percent QoQ in 4Q11. Samsung will continue to increase production volume for 27nm and 21nm process technology products in order to strengthen cost competitiveness, as well as develop new eMMC products and SSDs to raise the proportion of sales from system product clients.

Toshiba Corp.: With OEM orders from major smartphone and tablet PC clients as well as memory card strategic partners, their bit shipment grew significantly in 3Q11, in spite of the price decline and Japanese yen appreciation. 3Q11 sales thus increased approximately 24.7 percent QoQ to $1,692 million, 31.6 percent of market share. Toshiba will continue to increase output of 24nm & 19nm process technology products to strengthen cost competitiveness. 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 Co. Ltd: Suffering from uncertain factors such as the global economy and the European debt storm, Hynix increased sales from system product clients in 3Q11 to ease the impact of weaker NAND Flash end-product demand in 3Q11. As a result, bit shipment growth increased 16 percent QoQ in 3Q11, but ASP fell 14 percent QoQ, and 3Q11 sales stayed approximately flat at $633 million, 11.8 percent of the market share.

In light of steady OEM orders from certain major smartphone and tablet PC clients, Hynix estimates that bit shipment growth will increase by over 15 percent QoQ in 4Q11. For 4Q11, Hynix will continue to increase output of products from 26nm process technology in order to strengthen their cost competitiveness, and develop embedded products and SSDs to increase sales from ultrabook & mobile device clients.

Micron Technology Inc.: Last quarter, Micron increased the sales proportion of SSD products. This, along with the effect of the down season and stable OEM orders from certain system product customers, caused ASP to decline 26 percent QoQ. However, quarterly bit shipment growth significantly increased by 47 percent QoQ, resulting in a quarterly sales increase of 9.2 percent QoQ.

Micron’s sales amounted to $603 million, 11.3 percent of market share. In light of Micron’s process technology migration from the 25nm node to the new 20nm node in 4Q11, bit shipment growth increased approximately over 5 percent QoQ. Moreover, the company projects that ASP for the current quarter will stay flat. Micron also plans to increase sales of embedded products and SSDs for smartphone, tablet PC and ultrabook.

Intel: Due to an increase in the sales proportion of SSD, Intel’s ASP increased slightly and quarterly bit shipment growth stayed flat in 3Q11. Thus, in 3Q11 sales were up by approximately 10.7 percent QoQ, totaling $415 million, 7.8 percent of market share. In 4Q11 Intel will also begin producing 20nm process technology products, as well as continue to increase sales from SSD clients.