As shown, it required at least $3.6 billion in 2008 sales to make the top 20 ranking. Although the top five ranked companies remained the same, and most of the other top 20 suppliers moved up or down only one or two spots in the ranking, there were a few companies that displayed significant changes in their 2008 rank as compared to their 2007 positions.

Major Changes in the 2008 Ranking Include: The second largest fabless supplier, Broadcom, jumped six positions and is now the 17th largest semiconductor supplier in the world.

After a disastrous 33% decline in IC sales last year, DRAM and flash memory supplier Hynix dropped from 6th in 2007 to 10th in 2008. The company’s current annual sales run rate is less than $4.0 billion.

Cell phone IC supplier Qualcomm used a 15% year-over-year growth rate to jump five spots and rank as the 8th largest semiconductor supplier in 2008.

DRAM-supplier Qimonda’s nightmare worsened in 2008 as the company filed for insolvency and dropped 11 positions from being ranked 18th overall in 2007 to 29th in 2008.

With a 12% decline in 2008/2007 sales, NXP fell five spots to 15th from 10th in 2007.

Although its sales declined a relatively mild 7% in 2008, Japanese DRAM supplier Elpida dropped out of the top 20 ranking.

The total 2008/2007 sales of the top 20 semiconductor suppliers displayed a 3% decline, matching the total worldwide semiconductor market decline in 2008. Among the top 20 semiconductor suppliers, there were only nine companies that registered an increase in sales in 2008.

2008 Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders ($M)



Image source: Infineon