SK hynix overtakes Samsung to lead global memory market for 1st time with HBM surge
According to market tracker Counterpoint Research on Thursday, SK hynix recorded 21.8 trillion won ($15.6 billion) in memory sales, including both DRAM and NAND products, in the April-June period, narrowly surpassing Samsung's 21.2 trillion won.
SK hynix also hit an all-time high quarterly operating profit of 9.2 trillion won from its chip sales alone. This is almost double Samsung's total operating profit of 4.6 trillion won across all segments, including smartphones, consumer electronics, memory, logic chips and contract chipmaking.
SK hynix' rise is largely attributed to its leadership in the fast-growing HBM memory chips, a critical component for AI processors. Since becoming a key supplier of cutting-edge HBM chips to Nvidia, the world's largest graphic processing unit supplier, the memory chip maker has seen a consistent increase in profitability, while Samsung's earnings have been on a downward trend, reflecting its weaker position in the HBM market.
According to Counterpoint's Memory Tracker, Samsung's share of HBM shipments plummeted to 17 percent in the second quarter of this year from 41 percent a year earlier, trailing behind SK hynix and US-based Micron Technology. SK hynix accounted for 62 percent of global HBM shipments, followed by Micron with a 21 percent share.
The decline in Samsung's share was attributed in part to US export restrictions to China introduced earlier this year, which limited the company's sales channels.
As SK hynix is seeing soaring sales by supplying Nvidia with its most advanced 8-layer and 12-layer HBM3E products, Samsung is struggling to pass the GPU maker's qualification tests and remains largely dependent on older-generation HBM3 chips for its HBM sales.
'The good news is that Samsung's HBM sales appear to have bottomed out in (the first quarter of) 2025 and are showing signs of recovery in (the second quarter),' Choi Jeong-ku, Counterpoint Research analyst, said.
'To regain lost market share, however, it is critical for Samsung to diversify its HBM3E customer base and pass Nvidia's stringent quality tests.'
Choi also noted that Samsung should focus on achieving stable yield levels to supply next-generation HBM4 for Nvidia's upcoming Rubin platform.
"Considering the recent announcement that Samsung Foundry has won orders from Tesla, there is growing expectation for an overall improvement in Samsung's future performance," Choi added.
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