Memory is an electronic component indispensable to nearly all electronic products. By application, memory can be divided into three major categories, which can be represented by NAND Flash, DRAM and, NOR Flash and EEPROM respectively.

Undoubtedly, memory is of the greatest potential in electronic industry now that the demand of any memory category has been increasing rapidly. Despite the ever decreasing price, the capacity of memory keeps growing, which can offset the lost profits caused by price decline. Due to the fast upgrading of memory industry, new products, particularly in the field of DRAM, can generate huge profits. It took only one year for DDR2 substituted for DDR. Likewise, DDR2 will be replaced by DDR3 in two years or so. The gross profit margin of memory industry is usually above 15%.

Sketch Map of Memory Industry Chain

Some memory producers, usually, take up with the production on their own. In the event of insufficient production capacity, they will seek for OEM wafer fabs. Other manufacturers exchange their technologies for production capacity, like Elpida and Renesas for the production capacity of Powerchip, HYNIX for that of ProMOS Technologies and, Qimonda for that of Nanya Technology.

Main Manufacturers in Memory Industry Chain

As to memory die, most producers need the partners both in capital and technologies.

Except for Samsung, other memory manufacturers has their allied partners, such as the alliance of Hynix, ProMos and STMicroelectronics, the alignment of Micron and Intel, the coalescent of Infineon, Inotera, Nanya, Winbond and SMIC, the ally of Toshiba and SanDisk, the union of ELPIDA, Powerchip and SMIC, and the joint hands of Renesas and Powerchip.

The packaging and testing field, with higher threshold than memory die, requires to be supported by sufficient capital, technical strength and steady customers. It is beyond doubt that only Taiwanese manufacturers can do this. In the field of memory packaging, almost all memories are packaged by Taiwanese producers except for Samsung. PowerTech, ChipMOS and Walton take some 90% of the market shares. As for memory testing, PowetTech, UTAC, King Yuan Electronics and Thailin seize the majority of market shares. As for the packaging and testing field, PowerTech invested by Kingston is regarded as the leader and its production capacity utilization rate is as high as 100% with a gross margin of 30% plus.

Memory module refers to the making of memory dies, PCB and passive components into a practical memory stick. Few memory die producers like Samsung can manage the memory modules by themselves. Such producers are generally called as third-party memory module manufacturers. However, the majority of them only owns SMT production lines and can not embark on memory packaging and testing. In comparison, only a small number can do the testing. Memory packaging has to be contracted to professional packaging enterprises.

The third-party memory module manufacturers mainly focus on the retailing DIY market, and target Samsung and Hynix as the OEM market. The success of third-party memory module manufacturers mainly attributes to the market promotion and brand image. Therefore, most producers attach great importance to the promotional activities instead of products in DIY market.

The gross margin of the third-party memory module manufacturers is as low as 7-10%. Kingston, backed by Samsung, has almost monopolized the market for years while other producers only share less than 10% of market respectively. For the third-party memory module manufacturers, Tainwan-based companies are the main bodies and then come to American channel partners.

2. Memory Industry Chain
2.1 Brief Introduction to Memory Industry Chain
2.2 Status Quo and Future Trend of DRAM Die Production Industry
2.3 Status Quo and Trend of NAND Flash Die Production Industry
2.4 Status Quo and Trend of NOR Flash Industry
2.5 Status Quo and Trend of Mobile Phone Memory Industry
2.6 Status Quo of Memory Module Industry

3. Status Quo of Memory Market
3.1 Status Quo of DRAM Market
3.2 Status Quo and Trend of NAND Flash Market
3.2.1 Downstream Markets of NAND Flash
3.3 Mobile Phone Memory Market

4. Research on Memory Die Manufacturers
4.1 Samsung
4.2 ProMOS
4.3 Powerchip
4.4 STMicroelectronics
4.4 SanDisk
4.5 Nanya
4.6 Winbond
4.7 Qimonda
4.8 Hynix
4.9 Micron
4.10 Intel
4.11 Elpida
4.12 Toshiba
4.13 Spansion
4.14 Etron
4.15 Macronix
4.16 SST
5. Memory Packaging and Testing Enterprises
5.1 Status Quo of Memory Packaging and Testing Industry
5.2 PowerTech
5.3 THAILIN
5.4 Walton Advanced Engineering Inc.
5.5 ChipMOS
5.6 King Yuan Electronics
5.7 UTAC

6. Memory Module Manufacturers
6.1 Kingston
6.2 A-DATA
6.3 Smart Modular Technologies
6.4 Ramaxel Technology
6.5 TwinMOS
6.6 Transcend