The company that now dominates the DRAM business, Samsung, barely had a microelectronics operation in the mid-1980s, but grew to be the largest supplier of memory chips by the end of 1992. The company is now the world's second largest chipmaker, double the size of nearest competitor Texas Instruments (TI). It outpaces Elpida in terms of total chip sales almost tenfold. The Korean giant has become the other agent of change in the semiconductor world, according to IC Insight's McClean.