Intel, Samsung remain top global chip makers

Memory IC makers, except for Samsung, slipped in the rankings

By Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 7/2/2008 2:27:00 PM

Intel and Samsung-- two companies that supply a lot of chips to the computer industry-- remain the top semiconductor suppliers, but chip-makers that supply to cell phone makers are moving up in the ranking.

“A couple companies that showed some of the strongest growth last year and in the first quarter were Qualcomm and Broadcom in terms of percentage growth,” says Brian Matas, vice president of research for IC Insights in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Qualcomm grew sales 29% in the first quarter of 2008 after posting a 24% revenue increase in 2007. While Broadcom increased its 2007 revenues only 2.1%, its sales grew 14% in the first quarter of 2008 to crack IC Insight’s list of the top 20 semiconductor companies. Both companies supply chips to high-end cell phones.

Of course, Intel remains the top semiconductor company. It owns more than 80% of the microprocessor market and grew sales 7.8% in 2007, according to researcher iSuppli’s list of the top 25 semiconductor companies for 2007. Its sales increased 16% in first quarter of 2008.

AMD’s sales dropped 21% in 2007 due in large part to its price war with Intel. However, in the first quarter AMD grew its sales 22% as the price war cooled.

AMD’s ranking slipped from eighth in 2006 to 10th in 2007, says iSuppli.

Samsung, which is the leading memory IC supplier, saw its sales slip a little less than 1% in 2007. However, its revenue increased 19% in the first quarter of 2008 as memory prices began to firm.

Many memory IC makers slipped in sales rankings because of low prices for DRAM and flash in 2007. “A lot of them are way down the list because of brutal pricing,” says Matas.

Prices for many DRAMs fell by 70% last year and NAND prices fell 50%, resulting in lower revenue for many memory IC companies.

“DRAM and flash suppliers were prominent in the first quarter 2007 rankings, but many are off the list in the first quarter of 2008,” says Matas. While Samsung, which makes DRAM and flash, remains number two on the list, others such as Nanya, Qimonda, Powerchip fell from IC Insights’ top 20 ranking. Hynix and Micron fell two spots.