Often, the performance of a vendor is based on the results of the overall segment growth of the device area that the vendor participates in.

Gartner's relative industry performance (RIP) index measures the difference between industry-specific growth for a company and actual growth, showing which are transforming their businesses by growing share or moving into new markets and choosing their customers wisely.

Hynix achieved the best RIP ranking by outgrowing its market by 23.4 percent. "The South Korean memory vendor accomplished this by moving into the fastest-growing memory market of all time - NAND flash," Norwood says.

"In 2004, Hynix had just 3 percent of the NAND flash market, but it is likely to see that share increase five-fold to approach 15 percent during 2005." Two other vendors in the wider top 25 rankings outgrow their industry-specific markets by more than 10 percent.

Elpida Memory and Advanced Micro Devices (including Spansion) have gained share in their existing markets.