MediaTek Inc (聯發科) retained its position as the fourth-largest IC designer globally in terms of sales for the second quarter of the year, but the Taiwanese firm showed higher growth than the average among the world’s top 10 companies, Taipei-based market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said.
Benefiting from solid global demand for smartphones and other mobile devices, MediaTek posted US$4.49 billion in sales for the April-to-June period, up 98.8 percent from a year earlier, compared with an average of 60.8 percent growth among the world’s top 10 IC designers, a research paper released by TrendForce showed.
Sales of MediaTek chips for mobile devices soared 143 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, while its products for other gadgets saw a double-digit percentage growth in sales, Trendforce said.
Photo: Vanessa Cho, Taipei Times
Taiwanese IC designer Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), which supplies driver ICs for flat panels, was sixth in the second-quarter world rankings, generating US$1.22 billion in sales, up 96 percent from a year earlier and also beating the average global growth, the research paper showed.
Global sales of driver ICs for flat panels jumped 81 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, TrendForce said.
In the three-month period, Novatek’s sales also benefited from its system-on-a-chip development and its close cooperation with contract chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), the research paper said.
Taiwan-based computer network IC designer Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱) ranked ninth globally, with sales of US$834 million, up 44.0 percent from a year earlier, TrendForce said.
The top IC designers in the world generated US$29.85 billion in second-quarter sales, up 60.8 percent from a year earlier, amid a global supply shortage, it said.
US-based smartphone IC designer Qualcomm Inc remained the world’s largest IC designer, posting US$6.47 billion in sales, up 70.0 percent from a year earlier, largely on the back of strong demand for 5G chips for international smartphone brands.
Nvidia Corp, a US graphics processing unit designer, recorded the second-highest sales at US$5.84 billion, up 68.8 percent from a year earlier, followed by US-based Broadcom Inc at US$4.95 billion.
The other firms in the top 10 were Advanced Micro Devices Inc (US$3.85 billion, No. 5), Marvell Technology Inc (US$995 million, No. 7), Xilinx Inc (US$879 million, No. 8) from the US, and UK-based Dialog Semiconductor PLC (US$318 million, No. 10).
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, booked its first-ever profit from its Arizona subsidiary in the first half of this year, four years after operations began, a company financial statement showed. Wholly owned by TSMC, the Arizona unit contributed NT$4.52 billion (US$150.1 million) in net profit, compared with a loss of NT$4.34 billion a year earlier, the statement showed. The company attributed the turnaround to strong market demand and high factory utilization. The Arizona unit counts Apple Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc among its major customers. The firm’s first fab in Arizona began high-volume production
VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Japanese company is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence linchpins Nvidia Corp and TSMC Softbank Group Corp agreed to buy US$2 billion of Intel Corp stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. The Japanese company, which is adding Intel to an investment portfolio that includes artificial intelligence (AI) linchpins Nvidia Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), is to pay US$23 a share — a small discount to Intel’s last close. Shares of the US chipmaker, which would issue new stock to Softbank, surged more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Softbank’s stock fell as much as 5.4 percent on Tuesday in Tokyo, its
COLLABORATION: Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture would make AI data center equipment, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) would operate a US factory owned by Softbank Group Corp, setting up what is in the running to be the first manufacturing site in the Japanese company’s US$500 billion Stargate venture with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. Softbank is acquiring Hon Hai’s electric-vehicle plant in Ohio, but the Taiwanese company would continue to run the complex after turning it into an artificial intelligence (AI) server production plant, Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said yesterday. Softbank would supply manufacturing gear to the factory, and a joint venture between the two companies would make AI data
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
RSS