According to the latest study by DRAMeXchange, the South Korean company Samsung continues to dominate the global NAND flash memory manufacturing market.
Although the NAND flash memory chip was originally introduced by the Toshiba company, since its inception, the industry landscape has undergone drastic changes: Samsung has positioned itself as the market leader and according to the latest data, it seems that this leadership situation will continue, At least for the moment.
According to DRAMeXchange, over the past year Samsung reached $ 14.151 million in NAND flash memory sales, giving it a significant edge over Toshiba, in second place with 7.898 million dollars. In this way, Samsung experienced 34% growth compared to the previous year, while Toshiba only did it by 18,4%.
It was at the end of 2015 when the gap between both companies NAND flash memory manufacturers began to accentuate, especially during the fourth quarter, a period in which Toshiba's total sales declined, and Samsung sold almost twice as much as Toshiba.
But what is truly striking is the impressive growth of this distance between Samsung and Toshiba experienced during the year 2016, since this gap had never exceeded 6.000 million dollars and that shows the successful path taken by Samsung since production began in mass of 3D NAND flash memories in 2013.
There is a general consensus among market analysts that holds that Samsung will continue to dominate global NAND flash memory sales however Toshiba may have a plan of its own.
Although it is still a rumor, it is speculated that Toshiba could sell a minority stake in its chip business to ease your financial problems. Western Digital Corp. could be a potential buyer, and if so, the shares of both companies could outperform those of Samsung. But there are antitrust laws and the buying process would take a long time. Despite this, the operation is expected to be completed in early 2018, with WD or another company.
Thus, although Samsung's growth seems unstoppable, with this change in Toshiba the industry could experience another interesting turn.