Samsung turned its pain into gain in this very crucial business segment

Samsung has had a tough few quarters in the semiconductor business segment which has long been one of the company's cash cows. The unit wasn't making as much money as before as SK Hynix dominated HBM sales while steep price declines for legacy memory products dented Samsung's earnings.

The DRAM and NAND markets have recovered spectacularly over the past quarters, enabling Samsung to fully capitalize on the opportunity, and become the top global memory company by sales in Q3 2025.

Latest data from Counterpoint Research shows that Samsung's memory sales hit $19.4 billion in Q3 2025, helped by strong sales of its DRAM and NAND products. SK Hynix, which had previously dethroned Samsung, recorded $17.5 billion in sales. Samsung's market share in Q3 2025 was up 25% compared to Q2 2025.

SK Hynix has had a stellar year in this segment. It took the crown of the world's top DRAM company from Samsung in Q1 2025, a title it had held for 33 years. SK Hynix then became the top company in the entire memory market the following quarter. Its solid performance in the HBM segment has also been a concern for Samsung.

While Samsung has yet to fully capitalize on the high-bandwidth memory segment, strong demand for DRAM and NAND products enabled it to clinch the top spot yet again. Even as HBM sales struggled this year, the company's new deals and the potential deal with NVIDIA will further boost its memory business segment going into next year.

Based on the sales trends seen in the previous quarter, the research firm predicts that Samsung will remain the top global memory company in the fourth quarter of this year as well, driven primarily by sustained demand legacy memory products.