While Intel's revenue dropped in the first quarter, it is still the world's largest supplier of chips by revenue, ahead of Samsung and TSMC, according to IC Insights. Intel's arch-rival AMD significantly increased its sales in Q1 2021 and is now one of the world's Top 15 semiconductor companies.
Demand for personal computers and chips grew significantly in the recent quarters, so it is not surprising that the sales of the top 15 semiconductor companies increased by 21% year-over-year in Q1 2021. Intel leads the market with $18.676 billion, yet its semiconductor sales were 4% lower than in the first quarter last year. Samsung followed Intel with $16.152 billion, whereas TSMC was No. 3 with $12.911 billion.
Samsung, which is the world's largest supplier of 3D NAND and DRAM memory, has been challenging Intel for the top position on the market of chips for years. At times, Samsung can dethrone Intel when memory prices are on the rise, but it was not the case in Q1 2021.
AMD and MediaTek were two new entrants to the top 15 list of semiconductor companies. AMD significantly increased shipments of its CPUs for servers and high-performance desktops, so its revenue in the first quarter totalled $3.445 billion, up 93% year-over-year. In Q1 2021 AMD was ranked 11th largest semiconductor company in the world. The company was ranked 18 in the first quarter 2020. MediaTek's sales reached $3.849 billion, an increase of 90% year-over-year. AMD and MediaTek replaced Huawei's HiSilicon and Sony's chip division in Top 15.
The list of top 15 semiconductor sales leaders includes CPU, GPU, and SoC developers, makers of memory, suppliers of special-purpose chips, telecom giants, and contract makers of semiconductors. The list includes eight companies headquartered in the U.S., two firms from South Korea, Taiwan and Europe, and one from Japan.
