Cold Snap
The standings of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which have been leading the global semiconductor market, are wavering amid the “memory cold snap.” Samsung Electronics has been pushed down to the second spot by Intel in the global semiconductor market for the first quarter, and SK hynix, which used to be in the top 3, has disappeared from the top 10 list.
According to market research firm Omdia on June 29, Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business sales for the first quarter of this year shrank by a whopping 55.7% year-on-year to US$8.929 billion. Intel also recorded US$11.149 billion during the same period, a decrease of 37.5%, but surpassed Samsung to take the top spot in sales.
Samsung Electronics was the world’s top semiconductor sales company on an annual basis last year, but it has given up the top spot to Intel for three consecutive quarters since the third quarter of last year. This is interpreted as the pit of the memory downturn being deeper even in the overall semiconductor market recession. In fact, according to Omdia, first-quarter memory market sales were only US$19.3 billion, only 44% of US$43.6 billion in the same quarter of the previous year.
Due to this, SK hynix and Micron, who were also part of the memory “Big 3” along with Samsung Electronics, have been pushed out of the top 10.
However, fabless companies showed a strong stance. Qualcomm recorded sales of US$7.942 billion, moving up from 4th place last year to 3rd, and Broadcom (US$6.665 billion) jumped three steps from 7th place last year to 4th place on a first-quarter basis. AMD (US$5.299 billion) also rose in rank from 8th to 5th.
Nvidia, the leading company in the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) industry, achieved sales of US$5.278 billion during the first quarter and ranked 6th, same as last year. However, sales decreased by 18.4% compared to the previous year.
On the contrary, Infineon (US$4.381 billion), a car semiconductor company that came in 7th, increased its sales by 20.5% year-on-year, recording a double-digit growth rate, the only one among the top companies.
Apple, which is expanding its own semiconductor design, also showed improvement. It recorded US$4.291 billion in sales and climbed from 11th place last year to 8th place. Texas Instruments Incorporated (US$4.27 billion), which mainly produces analog semiconductors, and STMicroelectronics (US$4.247 billion) also took advantage of the downturn of memory semiconductor companies and raised their rankings.
The recession in the memory semiconductor market dragged down overall semiconductor market sales. This year’s first-quarter semiconductor market sales were tallied at US$120.5 billion, down 9% from the previous quarter.
Omdia stated, “Semiconductor market sales have decreased for five consecutive quarters,” and “this is the longest downturn since market tracking began in 2002.”