MediaTek Inc (聯發科), one of the nation’s leading integrated-circuit (IC) designers, was the world’s 12th-largest IC supplier in the first quarter, up four notches from the first quarter of last year, market information advisory firm IC Insights said yesterday.
IC Insights said Mediatek’s first-quarter sales rose 48 percent from a year earlier to US$1.61 billion — the fastest growth among the world’s top 20 semiconductor firms.
In addition to solid demand for smartphone chips, MediaTek benefited from a merger with smaller rival MStar Semiconductor Inc (晨星半導體) that was completed on Feb. 1.
“MediaTek continues to experience extremely strong demand for its devices in the booming low-end smartphone business in China and other Asia-Pacific locations,” IC Insights said in a statement.
“Annual post-merger sales for MediaTek are expected to be well over US$6 billion,” it added.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), a pure IC foundry operator, retained the title as the world’s third-largest IC supplier after posting US$4.85 billion in sales in the first quarter, up 9 percent from a year earlier.
Another local contract chipmaker, United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), saw its ranking improve one notch this year to 20th after posting US$1 billion in sales, up 12 percent from a year ago.
US-based Intel Corp remained the world’s largest chipmaker in the first quarter after the company reported US$11.67 billion in sales, up 1 percent year-on-year.
Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea came second with US$8.8 billion in sales, up 11 percent from a year earlier, while US-based Qualcomm Inc was the fourth-largest supplier on sales of US$4.24 billion, up 8 percent from a year earlier.
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