Intel Rules Chip Market: Share Jumps to a 10-Year High

On top of with the strongest growth of any of the top 23 semiconductor companies listed by IHS, Intel held a higher share of the industry than it has in the past ten years. Revenue of $48.7 billion for the year was up 20.6 percent over 2010 and gave the company a 15.6 percent market share. Samsung gained slightly too from $28.3 billion to $28.6 billion and 9.2 percent share, followed by TI, which surpassed Toshiba and climbed from $13.0 billion to $14.0 billion for 4.5 percent market share.

Among the winners of the year are Qualcomm, which jumped from ninth position to sixth with a gain from $7.2 billion to $10.2 billion and 3.3 percent share; ON Semiconductor with a jump from position 26 to 18 and a share of 1.1 percent as well as Nichia, which climbed from 28 to 23 and holds 0.9 percent share. On the loser side, Elpida revenue dropped 39.7 percent, which caused the company to fall from rank 11 to 15 and Panasonic lost 31.5 percent of sales and declined from position 15 to 20. Among other notable companies, AMD climbed one spot from 12 to 11 and saw its sales rise from $6.3 to $6.4 billion. Nvidia gained three spots from 20 to 17 and increased its chip sales from $3.2 to $3.6 billion.

“Intel in 2011 captured the headlines with its major surge in growth,” said Dale Ford, head of electronics and semiconductor research for IHS. “The company’s rise was spurred by soaring demand for its PC-oriented microprocessors, and for its NAND flash memory used in consumer and wireless products. Intel’s revenue also was boosted by its acquisition of Infineon’s wireless business unit. The company’s strong rise helped it to stave off the rising challenge mounted by No. 2 semiconductor supplier Samsung Electronics, which had been whittling away at Intel’s lead in recent years.”