Semiconductor industry hit by falling revenues in 2012

Intel stays top for 21st year in a row, but falling PC sales and competition hits revenues

Total worldwide semiconductor revenue fell 2.6 per cent to $299.9bn in 2012, according to figures released today by analyst group Gartner. Intel remained the runaway market leader for the 21st year in a row with revenues of $49.09bn, but down by 3.1 per cent on the year.

Samsung, in second place, registered an increase in revenues of 3.1 per cent, while Qualcomm leapfrogged Texas Instruments, Toshiba and the ailing Renesas Electronics to claim third place with revenues up 31.8 per cent from a shade under $10bn to $13.18bn.

Intel's decline can be attributed to the continuing squeeze on the PC market, while Samsung and Qualcomm have benefited for surging demand for smartphones and tablet computers - although Samsung was also affected by competition in the DRAM memory market and, hence, the decline in PC sales.

Indeed, the popularity of mobile devices based overwhelmingly on ARM microprocessor designs has unlocked the microprocessor market for semiconductor companies unable to compete with Intel on the desktop and in servers.

Top 10 Semiconductor vendors by revenue

Rank 2012
Rank 2011
Vendor
Revenue 2011 ($m)
Revenue 2012 ($m)
Growth (%)
Market share 2012
1
1
Intel
50,669
49,089
-3.1
16.4
2
2
Samsung Electronics
27,764
28,622
3.1
9.5
3
6
Qualcomm
9,998
13,177
31.8
4.4
4
4
Texas Instruments
11,754
11,111
-5.5
3.7
5
3
Toshiba
10,650
10,610
-9.8
3.5
6
5
Renesas Electronics
9,388
9,152
-14.1
3.1
7
8
SK Hynix
9,635
8,965
-4.5
3.0
8
7
STMicroelectronics
7,160
8,415
-12.7
2.8
9
10
Broadcom
7,643
7,846
9.6
2.6
10
9
Micron Technology
7,643
6,917
-9.5
2.3
Others
151,343
146,008
-3.5
48.7
Total Market
307,773
299,912
-2.6
100.0

"The normal drivers of semiconductor industry growth - the computing, wireless, consumer electronics and automotive electronics sectors - all suffered serious disruption in 2012," said Steve Ohr, research director at Gartner.

He added: "Even the industrial/medical, wired communications and military/aerospace sectors - ordinarily less affected by changes in consumer sentiment - suffered severe declines in semiconductor consumption. Excess inventory levels also remained a growth inhibitor."

Outside the top-three, Broadcom grew strongly thanks to demand for mobile devices, while NXP outperformed, according to Gartner. Freescale, STMicroelectronics and AMD all underperformed, according to Gartner.

The full report, "Market Share Analysis: Semiconductor Revenue, Worldwide, 2012" is available from Gartner.