Samsung Electronics tightened its grip on the global DRAM market in the first quarter of 2026, expanding its share to 38.6% even as its two main rivals slipped — the only one of the big three memory makers to gain ground. For anyone trying to read the memory market, the quarter carries a useful warning: leading on revenue share is not the same as leading on profit, and this quarter the two crowns went to different companies.
Global DRAM revenue hit a record $97.1 billion in the quarter, up 85.3% from the previous three months, according to research firm Omdia, driven by rising prices and surging high-bandwidth memory (HBM) sales. The first quarter is normally a seasonal low for DRAM, but Omdia said that pattern broke this year as AI demand spread: with generative AI moving from training toward inference, appetite grew not just for HBM but also for server DRAM and commodity DRAM at the same time.
Samsung led with a 38.6% share, up 2.1 percentage points from 36.5% in the fourth quarter. SK hynix fell to 28.8% from 32.9%, and U.S.-based Micron edged down to 22.4% from 22.8% — widening the gap between Samsung and SK hynix to about 10 points. By revenue, Samsung's DRAM sales jumped 95.4% to $37.4 billion, outpacing the market's 85.3% growth, while SK hynix posted $28.0 billion and Micron $21.7 billion. A separate tally from TrendForce landed almost identically, putting Samsung at 38.5% and crediting it with the largest average selling-price gains among the top three and the biggest share of server DRAM revenue.
Why One AI Shift Lifted Every Kind of Memory at Once
The reason the seasonal low broke comes down to how AI memory is built. HBM is not a separate material from DRAM; it is DRAM stacked. An HBM unit takes multiple DRAM dies, stacks them vertically, and wires them together through thousands of microscopic vertical channels called through-silicon vias, then mounts the stack on a silicon interposer right next to the processor. That packaging delivers the enormous bandwidth — well over a terabyte per second per stack — that AI accelerators need to feed their compute engines without starving them of data.
The catch is wafer cost. Because of yield loss from stacking and the extra silicon involved, each gigabyte of HBM consumes roughly three times the wafer capacity of standard DDR5. So when the big three pour capacity into high-margin HBM for AI servers, they pull wafers away from the server and commodity DRAM used in ordinary computers and phones — tightening supply and lifting prices across all three segments at once. That is why server DRAM prices climbed sharply on AI server expansion and data-center investment while commodity prices rose on supply-shortage concerns. Samsung's strength in those commodity and server segments is exactly what powered its share and price gains.
Why SK hynix Can Lose Share and Still Win the Quarter
The same dynamic explains the profit split. SK hynix leans harder than Samsung into HBM, where it holds roughly 57% of the market, and HBM commands margins several times those of commodity memory. That mix gave SK hynix an operating margin of about 72% for the quarter — a company record, and higher than the most recent reported margins at Nvidia or TSMC — well above Samsung's company-wide level. The price of the DRAM that goes into HBM modules had by quarter's end climbed to roughly ten times its level a year earlier.
So the league table and the income statement tell different stories. Samsung wins on revenue share, carried by commodity and server DRAM; SK hynix wins on profitability, carried by HBM. Both can be true in the same quarter because they are competing on different products.
The swing in the share rankings caps a notable reversal. Samsung ceded the DRAM crown to SK hynix in the first quarter of 2025 — the first time it had lost the top spot since 1992 — then reclaimed it in the fourth quarter and has extended the lead since.
China's CXMT Is the Fastest Riser, but Not in HBM
The quarter's fastest climber was China's CXMT, or Changxin Memory Technologies, whose revenue roughly tripled to $7.3 billion from $2.5 billion and whose share rose from 4.7% to 7.6% — growth of 195.7%, the highest among major players. CXMT now ranks fourth globally. But it remains absent from the high-margin HBM segment that the three leaders dominate, and its expansion sits under U.S. export-control rules that restrict the equipment China-based fabs can obtain — a structural ceiling on how fast it can scale into the most advanced memory.
Omdia expects DRAM prices to stay firm into the second half, with supply struggling to keep pace with demand, but said results will increasingly diverge by company depending on each firm's mix of commodity DRAM, its HBM expansion strategy, and its ability to make price increases stick.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the largest DRAM maker?
Samsung Electronics led the global DRAM market with a 38.6% revenue share in the first quarter of 2026, according to Omdia, ahead of SK hynix at 28.8% and Micron at 22.4%. A separate TrendForce tally put Samsung at 38.5%.
What is high-bandwidth memory and why does AI need it?
High-bandwidth memory (HBM) is DRAM whose dies are stacked vertically and connected through thousands of microscopic channels, then placed next to the processor. AI accelerators need it because they must move huge volumes of data between memory and compute at every step, which standard memory cannot supply fast enough.
Why are DRAM prices rising?
Each gigabyte of HBM uses about three times the wafer capacity of standard DDR5, so as memory makers shift capacity to HBM for AI servers, they reduce the wafers available for server and commodity DRAM. That squeeze, combined with strong AI demand, has pushed prices up across all memory segments.
Is leading on DRAM market share the same as leading on profit?
No. In the first quarter of 2026 Samsung led on revenue share while SK hynix, with a heavier tilt toward high-margin HBM, posted an operating margin around 72% — a company record. The two companies were effectively winning on different products.
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