Micron outpaces rivals in second quarter amid shift towards advanced DRAM and capacity expansion

Micron led the global DRAM industry in Q2 2026, outpacing Samsung and SK Hynix through a focus on conventional server memory and strategic capacity investments, as the industry rebounds from a cyclical low.

Micron outpaced Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the second quarter of 2026 as the global DRAM market delivered a sharp cyclical rebound, with industry revenue climbing 59.5% sequentially to $154.73 billion, according to TrendForce. Micron’s quarterly revenue rose 65.5%, ahead of Samsung’s 63.4% and SK Hynix’s 37.9%, marking the first time in the current upcycle that the smallest of the three major suppliers grew fastest.

TrendForce said Samsung remained the largest supplier by revenue at $60.98 billion, giving it a 39.4% share of the market. The firm credited Samsung’s strongest bit-shipment growth among the three, as well as the early ramp of HBM4 mass production, which began in February. In high-bandwidth memory, Counterpoint’s tracker showed Samsung lifting its revenue share from 21% in the first quarter to 33% in the second, narrowing SK Hynix’s lead.

SK Hynix still posted record results, reporting 79.3187 trillion won in revenue and an operating margin of 76%, but its DRAM share slipped as pricing moved against the structure of its contracts. The company had secured long-term AI supply deals earlier than its rivals, mainly with Nvidia, which meant much of its HBM business was priced before conventional DRAM contract rates surged. Counterpoint research said that timing left SK Hynix growing more slowly than the market, even as demand remained strong.

Micron’s gain came largely from conventional server DRAM rather than HBM. The company prioritised DDR5 RDIMMs and other high-capacity server modules, allowing it to capture more of the quarter’s steep price rise in server memory. Counterpoint data showed Micron’s HBM share fell from 21% to 18% in the quarter, underlining that its revenue acceleration was driven by standard DRAM pricing rather than its highest-margin AI products.

That momentum could be reinforced by capacity expansion. Micron completed its $1.8 billion acquisition of Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing’s Tongluo P5 site in Taiwan on 15 March 2026, gaining 300,000 square feet of 300mm cleanroom space about 15 miles from its Taichung campus. The company said it plans to retrofit the site and add a second cleanroom of similar scale by the end of its 2026 financial year, a move TrendForce says could lift Micron’s capacity by more than 10% from the second half of 2027.

The wider market is also tilting away from older DRAM types. As Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron shift more wafer starts towards HBM and advanced server memory, mature-node products such as DDR4 and DDR3 have become tighter in supply. Taiwanese suppliers including PSMC, Nanya Technology and Winbond benefited from the shortage, with PSMC reporting Q2 DRAM revenue growth of 167.8% to $115 million. TrendForce said PSMC is expected to receive a 1Y nanometre process licence from Micron, which could improve its ability to make denser DDR4 products.

For now, the technical and commercial demands of HBM continue to reshape the industry. TrendForce said HBM4 uses 16 stacked dies and roughly three times the wafer capacity of equivalent DDR5 output, which makes every increase in HBM allocation a reduction in supply available for mainstream DRAM. The consultancy expects HBM wafer starts to account for about 22% of total DRAM wafer starts by the end of 2026, rising to roughly 30% by the end of 2027, with new greenfield capacity from Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron unlikely to matter materially before 2028.