Having emerged as one of the winners in the game of semiconductor survival that has characterized the memory market, US-based Micron Technology now is reaping the rewards with the company attaining surging revenues in its DRAM line, according to IHS.

　　Micron's revenues for the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended in August, amounted to US$2.84 billion, up a solid 23% from US$2.32 billion in the third quarter. Within the company, the DRAM solutions group posted earnings of US$1.24 billion, a 34% gain from US$924 million. This compares to much slower growth in its NAND solutions group of 7%, moving from US$730 million to US$781 million.

　　"Spurred by the slowdown in demand from the key PC segment, the DRAM industry has undergone a major wave of consolidation, with the number of large suppliers in the market dwindling to three, down from five in 2008," said Dee Robinson, senior analyst, memory & storage, for IHS. "Simply by surviving this consolidation, Micron has come out on top, giving it a larger slice of the market pie. Furthermore, with fewer players in the market, the supply side of the equation has become more manageable, with Micron and the other surviving suppliers more capable of influencing production and pricing."

　　Besides Micron, the only other major DRAM producers operating at present are Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both of South Korea. In 2012, Micron gained the right to acquire Elpida Memory of Japan, which had been the fourth DRAM producer of note until it declared bankruptcy. The overall effect of the consolidation has been to streamline production in the entire DRAM space, contributing to stability and price increases for a previously volatile product.

　　DRAM is also performing well because of short-term causes. A recent fire at SK Hynix has served to grow revenues and broaden margins for PC DRAM because of new constrictions in supply caused by the disaster. Micron appears to have benefited from this development, just as the DRAM market has on the whole.

　　Mobile DRAM was a particularly strong contributor to Micron coffers during the period, IHS observed. Strong demand in the mobile segment drove gains in its DRAM solutions group as well as in one other sector, the wireless solutions group.

　　In contrast, however, to the significant revenue growth for the quarter, Micron's operating profits did not enjoy similar strength in expansion. For the DRAM solutions group, margins grew by just 2% despite a quarterly increase of 5% in DRAM ASPs, IHS said. Even so, DRAM remains the most profitable product segment for the company given operating income of US$183 million, representing earnings after depreciation and operating expenses like wages are taken out.

　　The most significant positive change for Micron's bottom line came with the decrease in losses for the wireless solutions group, where operating losses narrowed to US$50 million from US$62 million in the company's fiscal third quarter, IHS indicated. This was mainly due to the strength of DRAM pricing rather than on the flash memory side where the market has been experiencing soft demand.

　　While Micron's NAND solutions group continued to report an increase in margins, the decline in NAND ASPs has been more severe than expected, IHS noted. A decrease of 9% in prices basically negated gains from the company's robust cost declines of 10%.

　　For NAND, the slide in pricing along with a weaker-than-anticipated bit growth is indicative that the erstwhile bull market for flash memory dating to the beginning of the year now appears to be running out of steam. NAND bit growth for Micron in the fiscal fourth quarter rose 18%, compared to the much larger 44% bit growth in DRAM for the company, IHS said.