TrendForce: 2011 Global Memory Module House Ranking
The following report is the 2011 memory module house ranking published in October 2012 by DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce. As module makers’ operations are becoming increasingly diverse, this ranking is based solely on DRAM revenue.
2011 was a challenging year for the DRAM industry; with severe oversupply and the Thailand flood disaster that affected PC shipments at the end of the year, DDR3 2Gb eTT chip price fell 68% last year, from a high of US$2.08 in February to a low of US$0.66. While the March 11 earthquake in Japan resulted in a temporary supply shortage and subsequent price rebound, industry supply and demand remained unbalanced, and struggling memory maker Elpida filed for bankruptcy protection in February 2012. With the steep decline in DRAM chip price, 2011 module makers’ DRAM revenue fell across the board. Additionally, module makers began shifting their focus to products that bring in more profit like SSD and flash, also contributing to the decrease in module makers’ 2011 DRAM revenue.
According to TrendForce research, in 2011 global sales on the memory module market amounted to US$6.3 billion, a 36% decrease compared to US$9.9 billion sold the previous year. The decline in sales is attributed to the price drop as well as the sluggish upgrade market. Despite the revenue decrease, the top five module makers remain strong, accounting for 75% of industry sales, and the leading ten manufacturers take 90% of total revenue. Kingston retained its lead, although its sales figures fell by 38% last year. Ramaxel and ADATA took in second and third place, and experienced a respective 29% and 47% drop in sales. A decrease in DRAM revenue does not necessarily indicate trouble for module makers, however; many manufacturers are shifting their focus to the production of new, more profitable, products as there appears to be a diversifying trend in the global memory module industry.
Kingston Takes Crown in 2011, Module Makers to Face New Challenges in 2012
Although Kingston managed to secure the throne once again in 2011, the sluggish channel market remains a challenge for the maker, as around 70% of its revenue comes from PC OEMs. The maker is looking to expand in new directions though; in addition to SSD, Kingston is also looking to develop MCP products, for use in smartphones. Runner-up Ramaxel held up well last year with a relatively low 30% revenue decrease, as business from Lenovo provided a cushion against losses on regional and foreign markets. ADATA fell to third place in 2011 despite efficient inventory management and cost control, but saw satisfactory performance in other sectors after switching focus to flash products (DRAM product ratio is down to 30%). ADATA is also targeting the PC OEM supply chain with its SSD products.
Looking at 2012, as the global economy remains sluggish, both DRAM contract and spot prices have fallen 25% so far from this year’s high. As the mainstream specification for PCs is already 4GB, it is unlikely much demand will come from PC upgrades. Furthermore, Windows 8 is not expected to stimulate an upgrade cycle, presenting further challenges for module makers. While top-tier manufacturers are fortunate enough to count PC OEMs amongst their client list, all module makers will have to work on increasing their flash product ratios. As the scope of the market is not large, smaller manufacturers will face a difficult challenge this year, while large makers must turn to new products like SSD and MCP to boost revenue and survive in the ever-changing module market.
