May Lose to TSMC in Q3

A production line at Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek Campus in Korea

Samsung Electronics surpassed Intel in semiconductor sales in the second quarter of 2022, retaining the top spot in the global semiconductor market for the fourth quarter in a row. However, as the memory semiconductor market is shrinking, the Korean semiconductor giant may lose its leading position in the second half of the year.

Market research firm Omdia said on Sept. 18, the size of the global semiconductor market was estimated at US$158.113 billion (about 220 trillion won) in the second quarter of this year. This represented a decrease of US$3,111 million from US$161.24 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

Samsung Electronics' semiconductor sales in the second quarter stood at US$20.3 billion, up US$145 million from the first quarter (US$20.155 billion). Omdia attributed the increase to the sustained demand for server semiconductors and the growth of system semiconductor (non-memory) sales. Samsung Electronics’ market share rose by 0.3 percentage points to 12.8 percent from 12.5 percent, resulting in a 3.4 percentage point gap with Intel. The gap was 1.4 percentage points in the previous quarter.

Intel's revenue in the second quarter sat at US$14.865 billion, down 16.6 percent from the first quarter (US$178.27 billion). Intel posted a loss of US$454 million due to a slowdown in demand for PCs caused by an economic downturn and disruptions in the supply chain.

Samsung Electronics overtook Intel for the first time in 2017 and held the No. 1 position until 2018, then lost it to Intel in 2019 and 2020. Samsung regained the top spot in the third quarter of 2021 and has retained it for four consecutive quarters. It was followed by SK Hynix (6.8 percent), Qualcomm (5.9 percent), Micron Technology (5.2 percent) and Broadcom (4.2 percent). However, TSMC, the world's No. 1 foundry player, was not included in Omdia's survey.

Samsung Electronics may lose its top spot in the second half of this year as the memory semiconductor market is entering a recession. Earlier, market research firm IC Insights predicted that TSMC's sales will climb by 11 percent from the second quarter to US$20.2 billion in the third quarter of this year, surpassing Samsung Electronics to become the world's top semiconductor maker. IC Insights estimated sales of Samsung Electronics and Intel in the third quarter of this year at US$18.29 billion and US$15.04 billion, respectively.

TrendForce, a Taiwanese market research firm, predicted that prices of consumer DRAMs and NAND flashes will drop 13 to 18 percent in the third quarter compared to the second quarter. The semiconductor market slump is expected to continue until at least the end of 2023.

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