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Samsung cements SSD leadership in 2014

Samsung held its top spot in the solid-state drive market last year, and is expected to further cement its position and increase revenue in the coming years.
Written by Cho Mu-Hyun, Contributing Writer

According to market research firm IHS, Samsung Electronics held 34 percent market share for 2014, with revenues of $3.996 billion -- double that of runner-up Intel, which posted $1.99 billion.

Samsung last year began shipping SSDs made using its 3D V-NAND flashes, releasing an array of new line-ups. 3D-VAND stacks memory cells so that it can offer more capacity in the same space. Only Samsung and Japan's Toshiba are currently producing them.

samsungssdgraph.jpg
SSD market share for 2014
(Image: IHS)

The South Korean memory chip giant also launched SSDs based on triple-level cells (TLC). TLC offers 3 bits of memory per cell, more than single-level cells (SLC) or multi-level cells (MLC). Lifespan was noted as being shorter, but the company has applied its NVMe interface to increase competence.

Samsung is supplying SSDs to Apple for its MacBooks, Samsung insiders say, while it is also in talks with Apple, Google, and Amazon to supply its goods for their datacentres. Strong demand from mobile, PCs, and servers will likely continue to fuel growth.

IHS expects the South Korean tech giant to post 35 percent market share for 2015 and 2016, while revenue will increase to $4.571 billion and $4.9 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, the total SSD market was worth $11.58 billion last year, and it will grow to $13.12 billion and 14.26 billion in 2015 and 2016, respectively, the market consultancy said.

A Samsung spokesperson highlighted that it has the only offering of 3D V-NAND SSDs in high volumes, and said it will continue to offer a wide array of products using the tech going forward.

Source: ZDNet Korea

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