Because of external factors such as the US-China tech war, global economy, and war between Ukraine and Russia as well as Israel and Hamas, the global top three memory makers are maintaining their capacity reduction plans and will instead focus on advanced process transition and raising the production capacity of high bandwidth memory (HBM)
Because of a decline in inventory levels at end-customers, a rebound in memory demand during the peak season and ongoing production cuts by memory manufacturers, memory prices increased with the combined revenues of the three major memory makers hitting US$18.5 billion in the third quarter of 2023, maintaining a quarter-on-quarter growth and a smaller year-on-year decline compared to the previous three quarters.
The operating profit margin of each of the three manufacturers also improved compared to the previous quarter. Particularly, SK Hynix, benefiting from demand for HBM, showed a significant improvement in DRAM revenue growth and memory operating profit margins.
Chart 1: Global top-3 memory makers combined memory revenues, 3Q22-4Q23 (US$b)
Chart 2: DRAM business revenues by the top-3 makers, 3Q22-4Q23 (US$b)
Chart 3: NAND flash business revenues by the top-3 makers, 3Q22-4Q23 (US$b)
Chart 4: Memory business operating profit margin by the top-3 makers, 3Q22-4Q23
Table 2: HBM3E specifications and mass production schedule of top-3 makers
Table 4: Mass production schedule of top-3 makers 200- to 300-layer NAND flash
Table 5: Advanced node and HBM capacity plans of top-3 makers
Chart 5: Semiconductor capex of the top-3 makers, 2018-2024 (US$b)
Table 6: Key factors affecting 2024 memory market supply and demand
