Samsung moves to corner chip rivals

Samsung Electronics, the world’s top memory chip maker, is aggressively boosting output despite a looming industry oversupply, aiming to squeeze its smaller rivals. 

The market leader is better positioned to weather the sector downturn because of its cost competitiveness. In contrast, its smaller competitors are slow to shift to a more advanced manufacturing process, which is key to securing cost competitiveness, analysts say. 

Samsung said on Friday that it plans to lift its target for its DRAM bit shipment growth for this year to greater than 70 percent from the previous 60 percent level, far higher than the industry average of the high-40 percent level. DRAM chips are used mainly in personal computers. 

The Korean company said that it aims to raise its DRAM market share to 40 percent by this year-end, from the current 36 percent, and seeks to further increase its share to greater than 40 percent next year.