The world's top-3 memory IC vendors - Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology - saw their combined DRAM and flash memory revenues climb to a record high of US$37.3 billion in the third quarter of 2018.
The combined revenues for third-quarter 2018 represented increases of 8% sequentially and 36% on year, thanks mainly to demand for servers and smartphones that come with higher density memory specs.
DRAM chip sales accounted for as high as 71% of the combined memory chip revenues generated by the top-3 vendors in the third quarter of 2018, Digitimes Research indicated. The top-3 memory chip vendors saw their combined DRAM memory sales reach US$26.4 billion in the third quarter, up 10% sequentially.
Seasonal factors, as well as device clients already kicking off inventory adjustments will weaken memory chip demand and prices in the fourth quarter of 2018 and first-quarter 2019, Digitimes Research estimates. The top-3 memory chip vendors are unlikely to see their revenues regain growth momentum until the second half of 2019.