2013 Was a Year to Remember for NAND eMMC Memory

NAND memory saw an impressive year in 2013 – with records broken. The embedded multimedia card (eMMC) sector saw shipments of more than one billion units in 2013, which is 49 percent more than the 687 million in shipments during 2012. Also, NAND revenue jumped 28 percent to $25.8 billion – last year.

NAND memory, which comes either in raw NAND or eMMC, is the standard memory found in most smartphones, except Apple’s iPhone, according to IHS Technology. In addition, eMMC is used for most tablets, except Microsoft’s Surface Pro, which uses a SATA-interface solid-state drive. eMMC is favored in smartphones and tablets because of its high-density storage capacity, low power use and smaller footprint, IHS said.

While Samsung dominates the eMMC sector, SK Hynix, SanDisk and Toshiba may increase their market share, IHS predicts. The firm also questions if slower growth in the smartphone and tablet markets, could lead to “oversupply” which in turn could lead to a “large drop” in eMMC prices.

In contrast, there is a continuing drop in the NOR flash sector, IHS adds. NOR shipments dropped 10 percent to 606 million units during 2013, and revenue went down 15 percent to about $3 billion. The NOR flash market began dropping in 2007. The NOR market was $8 billion in 2006.

“The key driver to NAND lies in its proliferating use for mobile consumer electronics, exemplified by the memory’s increasingly widespread application in devices like smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs,” Michael Yang, an IHS analyst, said in a statement from the firm. “Meanwhile, NOR’s once-broad portfolio of applications in low-end mobile handsets and desktop PCs has mostly matured, and its next killer market has yet to manifest.”

NOR has two sub-segments. One of these, parallel NOR, will be used far less in wireless devices, but will still be used in industrial, medical, networking and military applications, IHS said. The other segment, serial peripheral interface (SPI), will be used in wireless and consumer devices. It is economical and appeals to makers of low-cost cellphones, IHS said.

The firm also reports how Micron Technology and Spansion, which led in parallel NOR production, are now offering SPI, as well. Other SPI NOR suppliers are Macronix, Winbond Electronics and GigaDevice.

“The largest NOR applications [are] disappearing or on their way out, and new deployments like automotive NOR [are] still facing an uphill climb,” IHS said.

The NOR market “would be healthier if consolidation took place and reduced the number of players to four,” according to the IHS report. Now, there are five suppliers which represent some 75 percent of the market.

Overall, the flash market totaled $28.8 billion in 2013. That is above the $23.7 billion for the market during 2012. More trends in the flash market are found in the IHS report,“Mobile & Embedded Memory Tracker – Q4 2013.”