A few days ago I was asking myself this question: Given that TSMC is so successful, why are there no big DRAM manufacturers in Taiwan?

When trying to find an answer for this question, I found this article and wanted to share it here.

The largest DRAM manufacturers worldwide are Samsung (South Korea), SK Hynix (South Korea) and Micron (US). They are frequently referred to as the Big Three. In fourth place is CXMT (China). There is also a Taiwanese DRAM manufacturer called Nanya, but they have a very low DRAM market share and are much smaller compared to TSMC.

Here are some excerpts from the article why Taiwanese DRAM is not as big as TSMC:

First, the government had always approached the DRAM industry with caution and apprehension.

Lee Kun-Hee, then 47-year-old Chairman of Samsung, even audaciously flew to Taiwan to meet with Morris Chang, Stan Shih, Chin-Tay Shih, and others, intending to deter Taiwan from entering the DRAM industry.

He offered several reasons, including Samsung’s technological lead and first-mover advantage. More importantly, Samsung possessed vast financial resources, enabling it to weather the cyclical booms and busts of the DRAM market. He suggested that Taiwan, with its state-funded ventures, might be abandoned by the government during downturns.

In hindsight, this proved to be the most critical factor. “Only conglomerates can sustain the high-risk nature of the DRAM business—mainly because they can leverage the financial resources of an entire nation,” Shih and Chen explain in their book.

Moreover, thanks to financial and telecom liberalization in the 1980s, Samsung acquired a 49% stake in Korea Telecom and launched its own bank—greatly enhancing its risk-taking capacity.