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Samsung becomes world 2nd largest semi supplier
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Friday, December 13, 2002
Worldwide semiconductor sales will end the year with a 1.5% gain, compared to the 31.9% plunge in 2001, according to market researcher iSuppli, El Segundo, Calif.
Among the top players, Samsung was the major winner in 2002, with its sales growing by nearly 50% to $9.2 billion and its ranking jumping from the number four to the number two spot in iSuppli's list. The South Korean chipmaker leveraged its leadership in memory, particularly in NAND flash and in popular types of high-end DRAM, to boost its sales dramatically during a flat year.
Besides Samsung, other companies that bucked the downturn were graphics and PC core logic chipmaker Nvidia Corp., which recorded 39.6% sales growth and rose from the 30th position to the 25th spot; wireless chip designer and supplier Qualcomm Inc., which enjoyed 32.8% growth and moved from number 28 to number 24 in the rankings; Micron Technology Inc., which racked up 31.2% growth and climbed from the number 18 rank to 15th place; and Infineon Technologies AG, which boasted 17.5% growth and moved from number eight to number six. Infineon's growth was boosted by its acquisition of Ericsson's wireless semiconductor business.
Some companies that trailed the market were communications chipmaker Agere Systems, Inc., which suffered a 35.5% revenue decline and dropped from the number 15 position to the 22nd rank; Advanced Micro Devices Inc., whose sales fell 31.2% and whose ranking fell from number 12 to number 16; Atmel Corp., which suffered an 18.5% revenue decline and a plunge in its ranking from the 27th position to the 30th spot; and Fujitsu Ltd., which experienced a 13.3% decline and was demoted one rank from number 13 to number 14.
Toshiba Corp., experienced the biggest drop in the rankings among the top players. The Japanese semiconductor maker in 2002 dropped from the number two position to number five on a 5.5% revenue decline to $6.2 billion.
Intel Corp. maintained its vast lead over the competition with $24.5 billion in sales, although the microprocessor giant suffered a slight, 0.3 percent decrease in sales for the year.
The other top ten vendors were STMicroelectronics (3), Texas Instruments (4), NEC (7), Motorola (8), Philips (9) and Hitachi (10).
A major shakeup in the rankings could come next year, iSuppli said. Renasas, which will be formed in 2003 by the planned merger of the non-memory semiconductor operations of Hitachi and 11th-ranked Mitsubishi Electric Corp., would be the number 3 company in 2002, with combined revenues of $8.1 billion.
By: DocMemory
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