Toshiba’s share of the global NAND flash memory market
expanded rapidly in the third quarter of 2009, according to a new research note
by iSuppli. That surge allows Toshiba to remain solidly in second place within
that market, behind Samsung Electronics.
The report found that Toshiba experienced a year-over-year
market-share gain of 57.2 percent, bringing its total market share to 34.6
percent at the end of the quarter. Furthermore, the company also experienced a
47.5 percent rise over the second quarter of 2009, indicating a rapid growth
rate.
By contrast, Samsung experienced a year-over-year
market-share gain of 23.4 percent, and 15.5 percent growth over the second
quarter of 2009.
"Toshiba in the third quarter was able to capitalize on
favorable NAND market conditions with its expanded capacity and high Average
Selling Price (ASP)," Michael Yang, iSuppli’s senior analyst for memory and
storage, wrote in a Dec. 17 statement. "The company was able to expand its
shipments. Furthermore, the company is the leader in production of
three-bit-per-cell parts, which have lower manufacturing costs, thus improving
profitability."
Three-bit-per-cell flash allows triple the traditional amount
of data to be stored on a memory device’s individual cells. In Toshiba’s case,
it is often used in consumer storage media such as USB and microSD devices.
However, Toshiba continued to come in second behind Samsung
Electronics with regard to overall market-share, with the latter claiming 39.3
percent to Toshiba’s 34.6 percent. Hynix was in third with 10 percent of the
market, followed by Micron Technology with 7.7 percent, Intel with 6.1 percent,
and Numonyx with 2.3 percent.
After fierce competition with Samsung that forced NAND prices
dramatically downwards throughout 2008, Toshiba received at least one bright
spot of good news in 2009: in July, Apple announced that it had entered into a
long-term agreement with Toshiba to supply the California computer-maker with
NAND flash memory for its iPhones and iPods. The iPhone utilizes the solid-state
flash disks for both storage and computation, and the popularity of that device
has helped ease a yearlong glut in the NAND market.
Earlier in the year, Apple made an advance payment of $500
million to Toshiba, which
has added production capacity in 2008 through a deal with
SanDisk.
Helping boost flash-memory manufacturers’ bottom lines is the
increase in average selling prices for NAND flash. Having reduced their
production in the wake of the
oversupply of NAND, those companies have been experiencing a rise in average
selling prices of 18.5 percent for the second quarter of 2009 and 40 percent in
the third quarter. But the average selling price is also expected to decrease
by 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter, according to an estimate by
iSuppli.
"In 2009, NAND flash suppliers decided they no longer wanted
to bleed red ink," Yang continued in his statement. "By shutting down some of
their 200-millimeter production lines, the NAND flash suppliers were able to
reverse the oversupply, boosting prices and expanding market
revenue."
Over the last year, Intel’s percentage of the NAND flash
memory market has climbed by 90.5 percent, indicating that the company may climb
the rankings in 2010 with speed.
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