Meanwhile, sales at Intel, TSMC, and Qualcomm grew by only 3 percent in 2Q21, while Broadcom’s sales increased by 1 per cent
Amid the persisting global chip crisis, Samsung Electronics has ovethrown US chipmaker Intel Corp to reclaimed the top spot of semiconductor supplier based on revenue, as per a report by research firm IC insights.
Driven by surging demand and rising prices for DRAM and flash memory, Samsung saw its total semiconductor sales increase 19 percent in the second quarter of 2021 to $20.3 billion.
Samsung was previously ranked as the top semiconductor supplier through much of 2017 and 2018 when the memory market experienced its last cyclical upturn. And, the company last enjoyed quarterly sales in excess of $20.0 billion in 2018 during the peak of the previous memory upturn.
The report further said that demand for memory ICs is forecast to continue this quarter with Samsung’s semiconductor sales projected to rise another 10 percent to $22.3 billion in the third quarter, further widening its lead over Intel.
Meanwhile, sales at Intel, TSMC, and Qualcomm grew by only 3 percent in 2Q21, while Broadcom’s sales increased by 1 percent.
“Intel’s semiconductor sales were $19.3 billion in 2Q21, far greater 3 than most others but its 3 per cent growth rate was far smaller than some of its key rivals,” it added.
South Korea’s SK Hynix was at fourth after its sales grew 21 percent quarter-on-quarter, the highest among the top 10 vendors, to $9.21 billion followed by US memory giant Micron Technology Inc., whose sales grew 16 percent to $7.68 billion.
Also moving up in the 2Q ranking were Nvidia and MediaTek. Nvidia’s 14 percent increase came on the strength of continued growth of the company’s important data center and gaming segments. Meanwhile, MediaTek’s sales increased 17 per cent, continuing an impressive sales upturn driven by strong demand for 5G smartphones and consumer multimedia systems.
