Micron gains market share in resurgent NAND space 

Micron Technology was one of only two global memory chip makers to grow market share in the NAND flash space during third quarter 2009, according to DRAMeXchange.

The chip industry research firm reported on Nov. 2 that Micron’s revenue from NAND sales rose 33.9 percent to $316 million during the quarter, pushing the Boise-based chip maker’s share of the market from 8.6 percent 9.4 percent.  

Samsung was the other NAND vendor to see expanded market share, growing from 37.6 percent to 38.5 percent and retaining its position as the industry leader. Toshiba ranked second, with 34.7 percent, and Micron eclipsed Hynix to take the third spot.

But a global resurgence of branded NAND flash parts – up 21.6 percent to $3.35 billion – has some industry watchers worried about an oversupply that will ultimately force revenues down.

According to Barron’s, analysts have cut their ratings on chip makers including Micron, Intel and SanDisk.

Writing from Barron’s Silicon Valley bureau, Eric Savitz reported that Wedbush Morgan cut its rating of Micron from Outperform to Neutral and trimmed its price target from $8.50 to $6. Morgan Stanley downgraded the chip maker’s stock from Overweight to Equal Weight.

DRAMeXchange’s report and the ratings cuts both come at the same time Micron is sampling its newest multi-chip package – a combination of its 4 gigabit 34-nanometer NAND and 2Gb 50nm DRAM technologies.

Referred to as the 4Gb NAND-2Gb LPDDR MCP, the product is targeted at smart phones, personal media players and other mobile Internet devices which require small size, low cost and energy efficiency.

Micron stock was valued at around $6.91 during early afternoon trading, up 26 cents, or 3.91 percent, from the opening bell.

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