Sales of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips are forecast to climb 14 percent in 2015 from a year earlier on solid global demand, data showed Wednesday, signaling a boon for the world's top two players: Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc.

Global sales of DRAMs will likely reach US$52.8 billion next year, according to the data by market tracker DRAMeXchange. The growth rate has been revised up by 1.4 percentage points this month from 12.6 percent predicted earlier.

Experts cited robust demand for DRAM chips due to an increasing global production of smartphones as one of the main reasons for the brighter outlook, even though the average selling price of 2-gigabit DRAMs is expected to further drop by 9.9 percent to $1.75.

The upbeat forecast is a boon for South Korean tech companies, especially Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, analysts said.

Woori Investment & Securities Co. projected in a recent report that Samsung would probably post an operating profit of 12.2 trillion won (US$11.1 billion) for memory chips next year, which will likely far surpass the 8.9 trillion won expected to be generated from smartphone sales.

"The advancement in microprocessing will lead to a rise in memory chip revenues, as opposed to how smartphone sales are expected to remain sluggish," said Kim Se-chul, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.

SK hynix, the world's second-biggest memory chipmaker, is forecast to post another record-high result in fourth quarter earnings, following its 1.09 trillion won net profit logged in the previous quarter.

As of the end of September, the combined share of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in the global DRAM market stood at 68.2 percent, DRAMeXchange data showed. Samsung accounted for 50.7 percent of mobile DRAMs over the same period.

By: DocMemory
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