Chip sales of Semiconductor Companies in 2011

Published:2011/12/21 1:56:00 Author:Phyllis From:SeekIC

Gartner, Inc., a company that provides independent and objective research and analysis on information technology (IT), computer hardware, software, communications, and related technology industries, said its preliminary analysis shows chip revenue will grow by slightly less than 1 percent in 2011. Earlier this month, Gartner said it expects chip sales to grow by 2.2 percent in 2012.

From the very start of this year, there are worries about the macroeconomy. As a result, the equipment and semiconductor orders in 2011 slowed. The industry did a good job in the early part of the year, in many cases entering the year with backlog from an exuberant 2010.

Uncertainty about the state of the macroeconomy set in at the midpoint of the year. Consumers held off purchases and infrastructure expansion plans languished as governments resisted assuming more debt. Equipment inventories began to build as the year progressed, with resulting ripples throughout the semiconductor industry.

Intel Corp., the leader in semiconductor sales for the 20th consecutive year, whose share of the total chip market will reach 16.9 percent, the highest ever, eclipsing the 16.3 percent of total semiconductor sales it had in 1998. Intel’s 2011 projected sales total of $41.2 billion includes sales from the former wireless business unit of Infineon AG, which Intel bought in the first quarter.

Intel saw strong growth in the first half of the year as the PC market stocked up inventory in anticipation of a strong second half of the year. Intel posted a strong year for its server products Westmere and Nahelem.

Processor makers Intel, Qualcomm Inc., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia Corp. outperformed the rest of the semiconductor industry. Intel’s server business grew despite slowdowns in PC production, while Qualcomm was carried by ongoing shifts to 4G and LTE mobile services. Nvidia’s Tegra platform supported tablet makers hoping to capture some of the enthusiasm associated with tablet PCs, according to Gartner.

Among the top 25 semiconductor suppliers, Hynix Semiconductor Inc., Micron Technology Inc. and Elpida Memory Inc. showed revenue declines as a consequence of DRAM price declines and loss of market share in the DRAM space.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, the second largest semiconductor supplier, also the largest memory chip vendor, posted 3.7 percent growth in chip sales in 2011, but its growth was carried as much by mobile phone ASICs as by memory. Samsung’s strongest growth came from its relationship with Apple Inc., where it is supplying the A5 processor used in the iPhone 4s and iPad2 media tablet.

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