Samsung captures 40% market share as Micron loses long-held lead in vehicle memory market Samsung’s LPDDR5X DRAM for vehicles, a memory chip used in advanced driver-assistance and in-car computing systems (Samsung Electronics) Samsung Electronics has overtaken Micron Technology to become the world’s top automotive memory chip supplier, marking a shift in a market where Korean firms had long trailed their US rival despite their strength in the memory sector.Samsung’s share of the global automotive memory market rose to 40 percent last year from 35 percent in 2024, according to S&P Global Mobility. Micron, the longtime leader in the segment, fell to 36 percent from 40 percent over the same period.The gain gives Samsung a stronger foothold in a market that is smaller than servers or smartphones but harder to enter. Memory used in cars must meet strict reliability standards and is often supplied over longer product cycles, as automakers need parts that can remain available through years of production and maintenance.That history has favored Micron. A recent report by the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, citing Omdia data, said Micron held 51.7 percent of the automotive memory market in 2024, compared with 16.8 percent for Samsung and 3.0 percent for SK hynix. The report said Korean memory makers had built their strength around high-capacity chips for servers and mobile devices, while Micron had expanded in automotive and industrial memory since the early 1990s.Samsung’s rise also broadens its memory business at a time when investors are focused on high-bandwidth memory used in artificial intelligence servers. Automotive memory is a different market, with lower volume but longer qualification periods and closer ties to vehicle chip platforms.The company also remained the largest player in the wider DRAM market in the first quarter of 2026, with a 38 percent share, according to Counterpoint Research. Global DRAM revenue reached a record $97 billion during the quarter as AI data center demand lifted memory prices.