News & Analysis
Comment
Kaiser Silicon
Japanese Companies retreating: In the mid-90's the Japanese hesitated when it ...
chanj
The sales figure, looked to me, indicates the demand of x86 processors is ...
Memory firms move up in semi rankings
Dylan McGrath
7/30/2010 1:43 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO—Riding the wave of the semiconductor industry upturn, memory chip vendors and silicon foundries were the best performers in the first half of 2010, with most moving up at least one spot in on the top 20 semiconductor firms list compiled by market research firm IC Insights Inc.
Of the five major memory suppliers in the top 20 ranking, all but Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. moved up at least one spot in the second quarter, with Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. jumping five spots to land at No. 10, IC Insights (Scottsdale, Ariz.) said.
While Samsung—the No. 2 ranked chip vendor overall—did not move up on the listing, the company did gain ground on top-ranked Intel Corp., IC Insights said. Samsung trailed Intel in second quarter chip sales by 21 percent, down from a margin of 52 percent in 2009, the firm said.
Strength of DRAM and NAND flash memory markets drove year-over-year sales increases of 14 percent at Hynix Semiconductor Inc. and Micron Technology Inc. and 18 percent at Elpida, according to IC Insights' Strategic Reviews online database. Each company's sales in the first half were only about $1 billion less than for the full year of 2009, according to the database.
Silicon foundry suppliers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) also had strong first halves, with TSMC moving to No. 5 in the ranking from No. 6 and UMC jumping six spots into eighteenth place.
Collectively, the top 20 semiconductor companies had sales of about $102 billion in the first half of 2010, according to IC Insights. If revenues among the top 20 suppliers stay flat in the second half of the year they will total $204 billion, an increase of 29 percent over 2009. Revenues for the second half of the year are likely to be higher than the first half, IC Insights said.
|
|
|
|
|
pixies
7/30/2010 4:03 PM EDT
The retreat of the Japanese companies in recent years is most perplexing to me.
Sign in to Reply
yalanand
7/31/2010 8:22 AM EDT
Looks like Samsung is inching up close to Intel. Look at their quarterly numbers. Samsungs new mobile launches like Spika, Wave were big hit. I will not be surprised to see Samsung on top of the table in couple of years.
Sign in to Reply
goafrit
7/31/2010 11:53 AM EDT
Intel is suffering the US deep sleep in the industry. If Samsung continues this upturn, it may catch with Intel in 5 years. But my problem is that the Asians are leading the market. There are many of them coming on the path. US better watch because this industry is owned by the Asians.
Sign in to Reply
yalanand
8/3/2010 1:50 AM EDT
@goafrit why should it be a problem because asians are leading the market ? Japan and Taiwan always had big presence in semiconductor market right from start. Its not surprising that Asians are leading becuase Asia itself if big market for them. Even if 5% of the population buys the stuff they will make huge gains, which is not the case in US or EUROPE.
Sign in to Reply
KB3001
7/31/2010 12:41 PM EDT
Interesting figures Dylan. I assume much of this growth came from the mobile sector? I do not know if you have a more detailed breakdown of the sales figures?
Sign in to Reply
eewiz
7/31/2010 6:03 PM EDT
Unfortunately 2 more Japanese companies out of top 20 this year. Panasonic and sharp. Reflects the current state of Japanese semi industry. BTW Aint UMC headquartered in Taiwan??
Sign in to Reply
Tunrayo
8/1/2010 3:53 AM EDT
Intel needs to build market share in other sectors; they have been overly focused on the PC Market in the past. Use of mobile devices has been growing exponentially in the past and Intel needs to be more active in this market. The Gaming industry and Green Energy are others.
Sign in to Reply
Silicon_Smith
8/1/2010 5:02 AM EDT
Intel has been focusing on the mobile market and frantically too. Even supporting its mobile business with acquisitions like that of Wind River. Only that, mobile is not PC. It finds itself amongst a number of other players who are equally, if not more capable and have a head start on Intel.
Sign in to Reply
yalanand
8/3/2010 1:50 AM EDT
@goafrit why should it be a problem because asians are leading the market ? Japan and Taiwan always had big presence in semiconductor market right from start. Its not surprising that Asians are leading becuase Asia itself if big market for them. Even if 5% of the population buys the stuff they will make huge gains, which is not the case in US or EUROPE.
Sign in to Reply
chanj
8/3/2010 3:15 PM EDT
The sales figure, looked to me, indicates the demand of x86 processors is slowing down; whilst, that of mobile processors is increasing. Samsung will continue gaining strength as Apple sales improves. If Intel doesn't improve its variety, it may lag behind Samsung in a year time. Nonetheless, the table will likely change as the introduction of 4G mobile. In the coming months, there will definitely be more tablet and smart phone coming out to the market. There definitely are some shuffling in sales ranking in the coming quarters.
Sign in to Reply
Kaiser Silicon
8/4/2010 10:50 AM EDT
Japanese Companies retreating: In the mid-90's the Japanese hesitated when it came to moving from 150 mm to 200 mm. That hesitation caused the crack that the Koreans, primarily Samsung, needed, and they poured into the void, ramping up immediately with 200 mm technology. The Japanese never recovered.
Sign in to Reply