Seven Of The Ten Largest DRAM Manufacturers Saw Revenue Declines In Q2

El Segundo (CA) - DRAM companies have been battling a difficult market environment for some time now and iSuppli’s second quarter revenue estimates give an indication just how rough the situation is. Only two top 10 manufacturers were able to post revenue gains, while one firm’s revenue decline was small enough to be considered flat. The rest saw its sales decline by up to 40%.

The good news about the problematic DRAM market is the fact that iSuppli believes that the market bottomed out in Q2 and that top-tier memory manufacturers were able to return to profitability after several month of losses.

Samsung continues to dominate the ranking with revenues of $2.1 billion in Q2 2008, down about 1% from a year ago. Hynix follows with $1.3 billion and a 14% decline year over year. Elpida, in third, was the big winner in Q2, posting a 16% revenue increase to $1.0 billion. Micron, now in fourth, kept its revenues flat at $740 million While Qimonda in fifth saw its sales drop by 40% from $994 million to $600 million.

The only other company with a revenue increase was Powerchip in sixth position with 10% growth to $350 million during the second quarter, iSuppli said.

Nanya came in seventh (-19% to $280 million), followed by Promos (-17% to $187 million), Etron (-34% to $62 million) and Winbond (-2% to $41 million).

iSuppli said that all of the DRAM suppliers could face turbulent times ahead. Following the mild recovery in the second quarter, the global DRAM market is showing renewed signs of weakness, with prices expected to fall during the third quarter due to bloated inventories, according to iSuppli.