Chip revenue rose to $300bn in 2010 – Report

The total market for semiconductors was just shy of $300bn in 2010, notching up a 30 per cent increase from 2009, techeye.net reported on Monday

Intel was once again top at the market, which grew overall by $70.7bn to $299.4bn, recording a 19th consecutive year as the semi market’s dominant force, despite its share dropping from 14.6 to 14.0 per cent. It did gain ground in certain areas.

Second placed Samsung saw a year of growth as a result of its performance in the DRAM and NAND flash markets, holding onto top spot in the DRAM market with a record high share, according to Gartner’s newly released figures.

Meanwhile, Toshiba kept third place as its revenue grew by 28.7 per cent in 2010, as the firm grew its NAND flash memory business for mobile devices and its discrete and optical electronics device businesses.

However, a decline in the games console sector last year meant that revenues for application specific integrated circuits aimed at consumer devices were down, though ASICS revenue from the communications and automotive sectors saw growth.

Tenth placed Broadcom enjoyed an impressive year, leapfrogging two places after gaining a 53 per cent increase and pushing itself into the top ten for the first time due to good performances in the infrastructure and networking, broadband and mobile markets.

All in all the top 25 semi suppliers were responsible for 69.1 per cent of the industry’s revenue last year, with memory vendors the best off.

It should be noted that large percentage increases in 2010 are likely to be as a consequence of the financial disaster that continued into 2009, and Gartner’s principal analyst, Peter Middleton, stated that the industry-wide upturn was attributable to a combination of “pent-up demand that had built in the wake of the worldwide economic recession, and rebuilding of semiconductor inventories that were significantly depleted during the recession and early recovery.”

Source : Punch