US chipmaker Intel Corp is expected to regain its position as the world’s largest semiconductor supplier by sales this year, two years after losing the crown to Samsung Electronics Co, IC Insights said yesterday.
Intel is forecast to post sales of US$69.83 billion, little changed from last year, but more than enough to surpass Samsung, which is expected to see sales plunge 29 percent to US$55.61 billion due to slumping memorychip prices, IC Insights said.
The global memorychip market is forecast to nosedive 34 percent this year from a year ago, the US researcher said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry company, would improve its ranking by one notch to No. 3, on sales of US$34.5 billion, up 1 percent from last year, IC Insights projected.
SK Hynix Inc, the world’s No. 2 memorychip maker last year, would drop to fourth this year, as its sales are expected to plummet 38 percent to US$22.29 billion, down from US$36.77 billion last year, while Micron Technology Co’s sales are forecast to fall 35 percent to US$19.96 billion, ranking fifth, the researcher’s tallies showed.
Taiwanese chip designer Media-Tek Inc (聯發科) is to take the 15th spot this year, down one place from last year, as it is to see sales grow just 1 percent to US$7.95 billion from last year’s US$7.89 billion, IC Insights said.
TSMC is the only pure foundry on the top 15 list.
If the firm is excluded from the ranking, China’s Hisilicon Technologies Co (海思半導體) would move into 15th, on sales of US$7.5 billion, up 24 percent from last year, IC Insights said.
Hisilicon is the chip designing arm of Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
Overall, the world’s top 15 semiconductor companies are to see combined sales fall 15 percent to US$314.89 billion this year from US$369.35 billion last year, IC Insights forecast.
The contraction would be deeper than the global semiconductor industry’s forecast annual decline of 13 percent, the researcher said.
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