Here’s how Samsung plans to heal the ‘biggest loss’ in 2023

Samsung is reportedly focusing on expanding the DDR5 memory market as a key to rebounding from their massive losses in the first quarter of 2023. Analysts say, increasing the supply of DDR5 memory can expedite the chipmakers’ exit from a semiconductor market slump.

According to BusinessKorea report, Samsung Electronics is expected to start supplying DDR5 DRAM for servers from the end of the second quarter of this year. At present, SK Hynix accounts for most of the supply of DDR5 RAM for servers.

Intel introduced a DDR5 DRAM-capable Sapphire Rapids CPU in the first quarter, and DDR5 DRAM is on a gradual rise in the server memory market.

The memory semiconductor industry hasn’t been able to churn out enough DDR5-compliant RAM, and large IT companies was hesitant to invest in new IT infrastructure until the first quarter of this year due to uncertainties.

From H2 2023, chipmakers have had much anticipation for favorable factors such as the reopening of China, the recovery of the global consumer market, and the resumption of infrastructure investment by IT companies.

Notably, Samsung lagged behind SK Hynix in the mass production of 10-nanometer DDR5 DRAM, which hurt its pride as the largest DRAM maker in the world. This also means that SK Hynix has been leading Samsung Electronics in the 10-nanometer DDR5 DRAM market in the early stage.

DDR5 DRAM

DDR5 is the latest DRAM specification announced by the JEDEC in July 2020. It has twice the performance of DDR4, which still accounts for the majority of the memory market, so DDR5 DRAM is seeing high demand for replacement.