Memory chip revenue is expected to achieve record growth in 2018
The global semiconductor industry achieved the best results in 10 years in 2017. Its annual revenue increased by 22% from 2016 to reach USD 429.1 billion.
This is based on new statistical data from British analyst firm IHS Markit, which believes that the market's large increase in demand for memory chip processing capabilities is due to emerging applications such as big data, Internet of Things, and machine learning.
This growth in demand led Samsung to occupy the first position as the world's leading chip maker, ahead of rival Intel, which has been in the top spot for 25 years. In 2017, Samsung’s revenue increased by 54%.
IHS said that total sales of dynamic random access memory chips increased by 77%, while sales of flash memory chips increased by 47%. As the supply has become tighter throughout the year, the market has also been significantly affected. As demand increases, revenues have also begun to increase substantially in the second half of 2017.
According to IHS, the growth rate of DRAM and flash memory has been the highest in the past decade. The increase in demand has also driven memory chip makers SK Hynix and Micron to reach an annual growth rate of about 80%, ranking third and fourth respectively in the world.
According to IHS, the fabless business model of some semiconductor manufacturers (including the sale of chip designs to third-party foundries for production) has also seen significant expansion. For example, Qualcomm, the maker of smart phone chips, grew at a rate of 9.5% last year, although its legal entanglements with Apple have affected its earnings.
Nvidia is also among the top ten chip makers in the world for the first time. As the market continues to grow its GPUs, Nvidia’s revenue has grown by 42%, and these GPUs are increasingly used in machine learning applications such as high-performance computing and self-driving cars.
However, IHS warns that as chip makers start producing 3D NAND flash memory technology for big data memory processing, the entire industry may be shuffled again, such as Intel's Xpoint non-volatile memory chips designed for data centers.
Craig Stice, senior director of the IHS's memory and storage division, said the current conversion opportunities to 3D NAND account for three quarters of production and will ease the strong demand from the SSD and mobile markets. "The price is expected to begin to drop sharply, but the NAND market may still hit a record high in 2018."
This is based on new statistical data from British analyst firm IHS Markit, which believes that the market's large increase in demand for memory chip processing capabilities is due to emerging applications such as big data, Internet of Things, and machine learning.
This growth in demand led Samsung to occupy the first position as the world's leading chip maker, ahead of rival Intel, which has been in the top spot for 25 years. In 2017, Samsung’s revenue increased by 54%.
IHS said that total sales of dynamic random access memory chips increased by 77%, while sales of flash memory chips increased by 47%. As the supply has become tighter throughout the year, the market has also been significantly affected. As demand increases, revenues have also begun to increase substantially in the second half of 2017.
According to IHS, the growth rate of DRAM and flash memory has been the highest in the past decade. The increase in demand has also driven memory chip makers SK Hynix and Micron to reach an annual growth rate of about 80%, ranking third and fourth respectively in the world.
According to IHS, the fabless business model of some semiconductor manufacturers (including the sale of chip designs to third-party foundries for production) has also seen significant expansion. For example, Qualcomm, the maker of smart phone chips, grew at a rate of 9.5% last year, although its legal entanglements with Apple have affected its earnings.
Nvidia is also among the top ten chip makers in the world for the first time. As the market continues to grow its GPUs, Nvidia’s revenue has grown by 42%, and these GPUs are increasingly used in machine learning applications such as high-performance computing and self-driving cars.
However, IHS warns that as chip makers start producing 3D NAND flash memory technology for big data memory processing, the entire industry may be shuffled again, such as Intel's Xpoint non-volatile memory chips designed for data centers.
Craig Stice, senior director of the IHS's memory and storage division, said the current conversion opportunities to 3D NAND account for three quarters of production and will ease the strong demand from the SSD and mobile markets. "The price is expected to begin to drop sharply, but the NAND market may still hit a record high in 2018."