TECH NEWS – A few quarters ago, Samsung lost its lead in the memory industry – and now it has climbed back to the top.
Samsung has spent years as one of the defining forces in the memory market, and it is widely known for operating some of the largest DRAM manufacturing capacity in the business. Last year, however, the South Korean giant failed to hit a set of key targets, giving rivals room to bite into its share – and allowing SK hynix to take the industry’s top spot.
According to new figures cited by Omdia, Samsung has now regained the throne. The comeback is being linked to the DRAM supercycle as well as a more aggressive retooling of the company’s HBM strategy. The shift is clear in the numbers: Samsung is said to hold 36.6% of the DRAM market, while SK hynix has slipped a few points to 32.9%.
A major driver behind the momentum appears to be HBM3E. Reports point to Samsung landing meaningful contracts tied to customers such as Nvidia, AMD, and various ASIC makers. At the same time, the company is positioning itself for the next step up, with demand expected to accelerate around HBM4. It has also reportedly secured a foothold in Nvidia’s Vera Rubin product line – another notable milestone for the memory giant.
The rebound is not limited to high-end HBM. Samsung has also benefited from broader, general-purpose DRAM demand, particularly across DDR5, LPDDR, and SOCAMM modules that hyperscalers have been adopting at scale. With the company’s manufacturing capacity acting as a magnet for enterprise orders, estimates suggest its share could expand further through 2026. The competitive reshuffle is visible elsewhere, too: Micron’s market share is cited at 22.9%.
What will be most telling is how Samsung performs as the market moves into the HBM4 era, especially with talk of industry-leading pin speeds and internal logic chips that could translate into substantial capacity for customers. One thing this does not imply, however, is cheaper pricing. If anything, the expectation should lean the other way – as long as the AI boom continues, the bill is unlikely to get smaller for anyone.
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