Fountain Valley’s Kingston Technology Co., the biggest maker of memory products for computers and consumer electronics, widened its market share lead last year.
In 2009, Kingston grew its share to 40% of the market for what’s called memory modules—circuit boards loaded with memory chips that speed the performance of computers and consumer electronics.
That’s up from 33% market share in 2008 and 28% in 2007, according to data from El Segundo-based market researcher iSuppli Corp.
The company’s closest competitor, Taiwan’s A-Data Technology Co., had 7.4% of the market.
Northern California’s Smart Modular Technologies Inc. came in third at 7.1%.
Kingston sold nearly $3 billion worth of memory modules in 2009, iSuppli’s data showed.
Part of the gain was due to rebounding prices for memory chips and improving demand for computers from corporations and consumers.
Kingston reported 2009 sales of $4.1 billion, roughly flat from $4 billion in sales for 2008.
Roughly a quarter of its sales are from flash memory products, mostly portable drives and cards that go into computers, cell phones and digital cameras.
A year ago, Kingston got squeezed as the market saw a steep drop in prices for memory chips.
Falling prices crimp profits and lower the value of the inventory of chips bought earlier.
Privately held Kingston has about 800 workers here. It doesn’t disclose profits.
