Bad events for users with memory prices in 2017 and 2018 turned out to be good luck for Samsung. For the first time since 1993, Intel lost the crown of the semiconductor market leader. In both 2017 and 2018, the South Korean electronics giant topped the list of the largest companies in the industry. It lasted exactly until the moment when the memory began to lose value again. Already in the fourth quarter of 2018, Intel ranked first in the world in terms of revenue from sales of semiconductor solutions. In the first quarter of 2019, the company continues to lead and, as the company's analysts are sure, , Intel will remain the champion for the entire calendar year of 2019 as well.
According to a recent IC Insights report, in the first quarter, Intel surpassed Samsung by 23% in revenue. A year ago, everything was exactly the opposite. Then Samsung's revenue was higher than Intel's quarterly revenue by the same 23%. In addition to Samsung and Intel, the list of 15 largest companies includes 5 companies from the US, 3 from Europe, one from South Korea, 2 from Japan, and one each from China and Taiwan. Cumulatively, quarterly revenues of the top 15 decreased by 16% year-on-year, which is more compared to the overall decline in the global semiconductor market in the first quarter of 2019 (the market decreased by 13%). If we recall that memory manufacturers have problems, then there is nothing surprising in this. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron each reduced their quarterly revenue by at least 26% in a year. A year ago, they also demonstrated quarterly revenue growth of at least 40%.
It should be noted that 13 out of 15 companies in the updated list of leaders earned more than $2 billion in quarterly revenues. A year ago, there were one more of them. However, two companies that did not reach the revenue limit set a new low on this indicator - $ 1,7 billion. And both of these companies are newcomers to the list of 15 leaders - this is Chinese HiSilicon and Japanese Sony. For the year, HiSilicon's quarterly revenue grew by 41%. Sony, thanks to the demand for image sensors for smartphones, increased its quarterly revenue by 14% in a year. Each of these companies, by the way, had a hand in pushing MediaTek out of the list of fifteen leaders. But that is another story.
Source: 3dnews.ru