MediaTek Inc (聯發科) slipped one notch to No. 5 among global chip designers last quarter, as plunging demand from Chinese smartphone vendors slowed revenue growth, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report yesterday.
MediaTek’s revenue expanded 18 percent year-on-year to US$5.29 billion last quarter, lagging behind the world’s top 10 chip designers’ average growth of 32 percent, the Taipei-based researcher said.
“MediaTek has seen growth in smartphones, smart devices and power management chips. However, the growth was compromised by sluggish demand from China as smartphone sales lost steam,” TrendForce said.
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Sagging smartphone demand led to a spike of 38 percent in chip inventory for MediaTek compared with a year earlier, it said.
The researcher said the inventory pileup was industrywide as growing macroeconomic uncertainties continued to weigh on consumer electronics demand.
It would be a challenge for chip designers to grow revenue, as it would take several quarters to level off excess inventory in the supply chain, it said.
Qualcomm Inc remained the world’s biggest chip designer last quarter, as the US company’s revenue surged 45 percent annually to US$9.38 billion, thanks to robust demand for application processes for high-end smartphone and chips for radio frequency, automotive and Internet-of-Things devices, TrendForce said.
Nvidia Corp again placed second, with revenue increasing 21 percent to US$7.09 billion, benefiting from growing demand for graphic processing units (GPU) used in data centers.
The growth in data center GPUs helped offset an annual decline of 13 percent in Nvidia’s gaming chips.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc climbed to the third spot last quarter from No. 5 a year earlier as revenue soared 70 percent annually following the acquisition of Xilinx Inc.
Broadcom Inc, which saw revenue jump 31 percent to US$6.49 billion, ranked fourth.
The top four chip designers increased inventory by between 50 percent and 103 percent year-on-year last quarter, with Nvidia gaining the most, TrendForce’s data showed.
Novatek Microelectronics Corp (聯詠), a supplier of display driver ICs, slipped one notch to No. 7 last quarter, with revenue decreasing 12 percent to US$1.07 billion amid slumping display demand.
Novatek’s inventory rose 66 percent last quarter from a year earlier.
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