Even though it is going through bankruptcy procedures, the company gets the final laugh

May 26, 2012 12:24 GMT  ·  By

You'd think a company that filed for bankruptcy and is about to be bought by another wouldn't have much to show in terms of product sales, but surprises never cease.

In a paradoxical turn of events, Elpida managed to get the third spot in terms of DRAM market share during the first quarter of 2012.

The company it one-upped was none other than Micron, the one most likely to buy Elpida.

Elpida's revenue grew by 1% and its market share ended up at 12.6%, below just Samsung (40.8%) and Hynix (24.2%).

“Elpida’s displacement of Micron for the No. 3 spot is paradoxical, especially as Micron on May 7 won the right to bid exclusively to buy the Japanese company, after Hynix Semiconductor and Toshiba Corp. dropped out of the bidding race," said Mike Howard, senior principal analyst for DRAM & memory research at IHS.