Global DRAM module sales in 2022 faced a 4.6 percent year-on-year decline, totaling $17.3 billion, as consumer demand for electronic products waned due to high inflation, TrendForce said.
The revenue performance of various module manufacturers exhibited significant variations due to the diverse domains they catered to. TrendForce’s data revealed that the top five memory suppliers in 2022 accounted for a substantial 90 percent of the total sales, while the top ten collectively represented 96 percent of the global market revenue.
Kingston has maintained its commanding market share at 78 percent, despite a slight revenue dip, solidifying its position as the global leader. Kingston’s extensive product supply chain and robust brand scale allowed it to limit its revenue decline to a modest 5.3 percent.
Raxamel secured the second position, achieving remarkable growth of nearly 90 percent in 2022. However, this surge can be largely attributed to a significant decline in 2021, creating a low comparison base. Excluding 2021, Ramaxel’s revenue trends align reasonably with previous years. The company gained significant ground in the server domain and received validation from server OEM clients, contributing to its impressive revenue growth.
ADATA, primarily focused on consumer products, ventured into high-margin segments like industrial control, automotive, and e-sports in 2022. However, their low proportion in these segments made them susceptible to the impacts of global demand shrinkage, resulting in a 10 percent decline and a third-place ranking.
POWEV saw its revenue grow by 12.7 percent, securing the fourth position. The brand’s success in the e-sports market, combined with a diverse channel sales model, buoyed its performance. Kimtigo, despite proactive product development and global expansion efforts, couldn’t escape the effects of reduced consumer electronics spending, leading to a slight revenue decline and a fifth-place ranking in 2022.
SMART Modular, serving primarily the industrial control market, encountered challenges due to inflation, resulting in constrained corporate procurement budgets and reduced demand. Consequently, its revenue declined by 16.1 percent, placing it in the sixth position. Patriot Memory, making a comeback on the list, aggressively expanded into new ventures and responded to national project demands in 2022, pushing its revenue up by 15.1 percent and achieving the seventh rank.
Revenue contributions remained limited in the early growth stages of new applications, and revenues plunged by over 15 percent amid the global economic downturn.
Innodisk advanced from the ninth to the eighth position, relying on its strong foundation in industrial application development and efforts to expand into industrial AIoT-related applications. However, it faced challenges as this field is still emerging and struggled against the downward trend in demand for its core industrial control products, leading to a 17.8 percent fall in revenue.
Team Group, positioned at ninth place, was impacted by channel inventory depletion in the second half of 2022 and witnessed a significant demand decrease, resulting in a 21.4 percent annual revenue reduction. Nevertheless, the active promotion of its e-sports brand targeting niche markets suggests potential revenue growth if computer-related demands rebound.
Apacer, rounding out the top ten, faced the effects of the global economic downturn, with weakening end-sale forces in the latter half of 2022 and more conservative customer orders, resulting in a 16.6 percent revenue downturn.
These trends indicate the dynamic nature of the DRAM module market, where manufacturers’ strategies and product diversification play a critical role in their performance in the face of changing market conditions.
