Revenues for mobile DRAM reached US$2.8 billion in the second quarter of 2013, up 26% from US$2.2 billion in the first quarter, according to IHS. Growth was driven by a 24.1% increase in mobile DRAM bit shipments as well as by a 1.5% uptick in ASPs, IHS said.

　　In comparison, mobile DRAM revenues fell by 14% sequentially in the first quarter, IHS indicated. Shipments in the quarter increased just 1.5% on quarter, while ASPs plummeted 15.2%.

　　Despite the latest gains by mobile DRAM, its share of the DRAM market as a whole rose by just a sliver, IHS observed. Mobile DRAM in the second quarter commanded 33% of the total DRAM market, marginally up from 32% in the first quarter.

　　"Share of mobile DRAM remained below the levels reached in the second half last year because of seasonally slow demand during the most recent period for smartphones and tablets," said Mike Howard, senior principal analyst, DRAM & Memory, for IHS. "In this respect, commodity PC DRAM continues to account for the majority of the DRAM space with the rest of the DRAM market represented by other segments, such as server DRAM, consumer DRAM and graphics DRAM."

　　South Korea maintained its dominance of the mobile DRAM industry, controlling nearly 75% of revenues thanks to the two largest players in the business - Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, IHS said.

　　Samsung's share in the second quarter fell 2pp to 49.6%, but the electronics giant still has twice the market share of nearest competitor SK Hynix, IHS indicated. Samsung's mobile DRAM sales during the period reached US$1.4 billion, up 21% from the first quarter.

　　Meanwhile, SK Hynix made a substantial leap of its own, growing mobile DRAM revenues by 40% and nearly doubling its takings compared to the same time a year ago, IHS said. SK Hynix controlled 24.8% of the market in the second quarter.

　　At No. 3 was Elpida Memory of Japan, which has been acquired by fourth-ranked Micron Technology of the US. In this case, the acquired performed much better than the buyer for the period, IHS pointed out. Elpida's mobile DRAM revenues in the second quarter jumped 80% from year-ago levels, while Micron underperformed the market with revenue growth of only 17.6%, IHS said. Elpida had 20.5% market share in the second quarter, while Micron was a distant fourth with just 3.9%.