Intel replaced Samsung as the number one semiconductor supplier in 4Q18 after losing the lead spot to Samsung in 2Q17.

While Samsung held the full-year number one ranking in 2017 and 2018, Intel is forecast to easily recapture the number one ranking for the full-year of 2019, a position it previously held from 1993 through 2016.

With the collapse of the DRAM and NAND flash markets over the past year, a complete switch has occurred, with Samsung having 23% more total semiconductor sales than Intel in 1Q18 but Intel having 23% more semiconductor sales than Samsung just one year later in 1Q19!

In total, the top-15 semiconductor companies’ sales dropped by 16% in 1Q19 compared to 1Q18, three points worse than the total worldwide semiconductor industry 1Q19/1Q18 decline of 13%.

Illustrating the extreme volatility of the memory market, the Big 3 memory suppliers—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, each registered year-over-year revenue declines of at least 26% in 1Q19 after each company posted greater than 40% year-over-year growth one year earlier in 1Q18.

Thirteen of the top-15 companies had sales of at least $2.0 billion in 1Q19, one company less than in 1Q18.  As shown, it took over $1.7 billion in quarterly sales just to make it into the 1Q19 top-15 semiconductor supplier list.

There were two new entrants into the top-15 ranking in 1Q19, HiSilicon and Sony.  As shown, China-based fabless IC supplier HiSilicon jumped up 11 spots in the ranking to 14th place on the back of a 41% surge in year-over-year sales in 1Q19.  Sony also posted a solid year-over-year sales increase of 14% in 1Q19 driven by its primary product line of image sensors.

The top-15 ranking includes one pure-play foundry (TSMC) and four fabless companies.  If TSMC were excluded from the top-15 ranking, Taiwan-based fabless supplier MediaTek ($1,711 million) would have been ranked in the 15th position.

IC Insights includes foundries in the top-15 semiconductor supplier ranking since it has always viewed the ranking as a top supplier list, not a marketshare ranking, and realizes that in some cases the semiconductor sales are double counted.

News Source: https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/intel-regains-no-1-slot-2019-05/