DRAM Market Consolidation=> 32% Growth, All Time High Revenue

6+ DRAM vendors in 2001

Worldwide semiconductor revenue grew 7.9% in 2014, led by DRAM 32% increases;

"memory market was the best performer for the second year in a row, growing 16.6 percent, meaning the rest of the market only achieved 4.9 percent growth," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "As a group, DRAM vendors performed best, lifted by the booming DRAM market, which saw revenue increase 32 percent to $46.1 billion, surpassing the all-time high of $41.8 billion set in 1995." (more in the article below).  

The consolidation in the number of memory manufacturers from 20+ in the early 90s to 3 vendors help to firm DRAM memory chip price. Due to the limited number of vendors and the high cost of new fabs will keep the floor under DRAM chip costs in the future.

More about fab consolidation in my blog from March 2012 – Moore's Law End? (Next semiconductors gen. cost $10 billion)

DRAM vendors market shares are at S. Korea's share in DRAM market hits all-time high in 2014

Ron
Insightful, timely, and accurate semiconductor consulting.

Semiconductor information and news at - http://www.maltiel-consulting.com/

Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Grew 7.9 Percent in 2014, According to Final Results by Gartner

Booming DRAM Market Sees Revenue Increase 32 Percent During 2014

Worldwide semiconductor revenue totaled $340.3 billion in 2014, a 7.9 percent increase from 2013 revenue of $315.4 billion, according to final results by Gartner, Inc. The top 25 semiconductor vendors' combined revenue increased 11.7 percent, which was more than the overall industry's growth. The top 25 vendors accounted for 72.4 percent of total market revenue, up from 69.9 percent in 2013.

"2014 saw all device categories post positive growth, unlike in 2013, when application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), discretes and microcomponents all declined. The memory market was the best performer for the second year in a row, growing 16.6 percent, meaning the rest of the market only achieved 4.9 percent growth," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner. "As a group, DRAM vendors performed best, lifted by the booming DRAM market, which saw revenue increase 32 percent to $46.1 billion, surpassing the all-time high of $41.8 billion set in 1995."

Intel saw a return to growth after two years of revenue decline, as PC production recovered, with sales up 7.7 percent (see Table 1). The company retained the No. 1 market share position for the 23rd consecutive year by capturing 15.4 percent of the market, which was down slightly on the previous year.

2014 saw significantly more merger and acquisition (M&A) activity among the major semiconductor vendors than the previous year, with some announced deals still to close in 2015. Among the most significant deals was Avago Technologies' acquisition of LSI, propelling the company into the top 25 semiconductor vendors for the first time. MStar Semiconductor was merged with MediaTek after a prolonged merger, and ON Semiconductor acquired Aptina Imaging. After adjusting for closed M&A activity, the top 25 semiconductor vendors grew at 9.1 percent.Source: Gartner (March 2015)

Additional information is provided in the Gartner report "Market Share Analysis: Semiconductors, Worldwide, 2014."