Samsung is mired in the deepest crisis in its history. You no longer have room to make more mistakes

2025 is being a crucial year for Samsung. A year in which his future is being played. This reflection of Han Jong-Hee, co-director general of the company, Express clearly At what time is The largest company in South Korea: “First of all, I sincerely apologize for the fact that the performance of our actions You have not fulfilled your expectations. In the last year our company has not correctly responded to the semiconductor market for artificial intelligence (AI), which quickly evolves. “

A very important idea follows from Jong-Hee’s words: The competitiveness of its subsidiary Specialized in the manufacture of integrated circuits is essential for Samsung. Even so, the problems are being presented from several fronts. “Our technological advantage has been compromised in all our businesses. It is difficult status quo instead of generating disruptive changes “, Pray an internal statement Written by Jay Y. Lee, the president of the company.

In this Samsung scenario you need your best chip manufacturing technology, 2 Nm lithographyBe a success. At the moment we know that at least two companies, the Japanese chip designer for the preferred networks (PFN) and a South Korean company specialized in the design of neuronal processing units (NPU), are very interested in their 2 Nm integration technology. And, as we tell you earlier this week, has reached an agreement with Tesla to make chips for a value of 16,500 million dollars in its Texas plant (USA). There is no doubt that the confidence of these companies is an oxygen ball for Samsung, but in all likelihood it will not be enough to relieve the stress to which it is currently subjected.

The loss of leadership in the memories market has further injured Samsung

Samsung has led for more than three decades the dram memory chips industry, but the AI boom has triggered something that just two or three years ago would have seemed unthinkable: now it is SK Hynix the manufacturer of integrated memory circuits that LEADS THE HBM Chips Market so much (High Bandwidth Memory) like that of the DRAM memories. The latter are those used by most of the devices with which we are familiar, such as computers or mobile phones.

However, HBM memories are those that are integrated into those hardware solutions in which it is necessary to prioritize maximum performance, such as GPUs for Ia. In recent months Samsung has led the manufacturing market for integrated dram memory circuits with An approximate 40% quotawhile SK Hynix defended A very worthy 29%. Behind both was Micron Technology, with 26% approximately. During the first quarter of 2025 these figures have varied in a very important way. In fact, Now the leader is SK Hynix.

This last company controls no less than 70% of the market of integrated HBM memory circuits, so its leadership in this sector is overwhelming. In fact, SK Hynix is the Nvidia supplier if we stick to its GPU for ia. On the other hand, this last company was erected during the first quarter of 2025 as the leading manufacturer of DRAM memories with A 36% quota. Samsung now occupies the second position With 34%. And Micron Technology follows them closely with 30%. Behind them, Chinese manufacturers of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) and Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT)

During the next years SK Hynix will maintain its leadership in HBM memories, although it will lose a part of its quota due to the saturation of the hardware market for AI and the growth of competition. Samsung, meanwhile, about 25% will be stabilized market share. And finally, Micron will be the only one of these three companies that will grow up to 20% market share. These figures are just a forecast elaborated by analysts from SCMPbut they allow us to get a quite accurate idea about how this market of the semiconductor industry will evolve.

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