ASPs and bit shipments both increased with Samsung, Hynix, and Micron seeing Q1 QoQ revenue increases of 8.5%, 6.9%, and 9.6%,p respectively.
Samsung’s 1Znm process had a relatively low yield rate in 1Q21 as the company had only initially kicked off mass production with the 1Znm process.
As such, the company’s operating profit margin dropped from 36% in 4Q20 to 34% in 1Q21.
Hynix benefitted from improvements in the yield rate of its new process technologies and saw a corresponding improvement in its operating profit margin from 26% in 4Q20 to 29% in 1Q21.
Micron’s quotes for the Dec 2020 to Feb 2021 fiscal period increased by a similar margin compared to its Korean competitors, and its operating profit margin for this fiscal period likewise rose to 26%, from 21% in the prior quarter.
Planned new production capacity will not have a noticeable effect on the supply and demand of the DRAM market this year because most of t will be installed in 1H22.
Nanya benefitted from the surge in specialty DRAM quotes and experienced a QoQ growth of 21.7% in its revenue for 1Q21, with a corresponding surge in its operating profit margins from 8.8% in 4Q20 to 17.1% in 1Q21.
Winbond’s DRAM revenue increased by 9% QoQ in 1Q21 and PSMC’s revenue for 1Q21, which includes only revenue from its in-house PC DRAM products and excludes revenue from its DRAM foundry services, underwent an approximately 7% growth QoQ, though this figure is about 16% if the latter were also included.