Samsung is now world's largest supplier of chips for cars
What's the story
Samsung Electronics has dethroned Micron Technology to become the world's leading supplier of automotive memory chips. The South Korean tech giant now holds a 40% share of the global market, according to a report by The Korea Herald. This is an increase from its 35% share in 2024. Meanwhile, Micron's market share has decreased from 40% to 36% during the same period.
Market dynamics
Challenge of entering automotive memory chip market
The automotive memory chip market is smaller than those for servers or smartphones, but much harder to penetrate. The memory used in cars has to meet stringent reliability requirements and is usually supplied over longer product cycles. This is because automakers need components that can be available for years of production and maintenance.
Market shift
Micron historically dominated the segment
Historically, Micron has been the dominant player in the automotive memory chip market. A recent report by the Korea Automotive Technology Institute showed that Micron had a whopping 51.7% share of this market in 2024, while Samsung and SK hynix held much smaller shares of 16.8% and 3%, respectively. However, Samsung's recent gains indicate a major shift in this sector.
Strategic growth
Samsung's success amid shifting focus to AI servers
Samsung's recent success also expands its memory business at a time when investors are focused on high-bandwidth memory for artificial intelligence servers. The automotive memory market is different from this, with lower volume but longer qualification periods and closer ties to vehicle chip platforms.