Samsung close the gap to Intel

As shown, it took just over $2.2 billion in sales just to make it into the 1H15 top-20 ranking and eight of the top 20 companies had 1H15 sales of at least $5.0 billion. The ranking includes seven suppliers headquartered in the U.S., four in Japan, three in Taiwan, three in Europe, two in South Korea, and one in Singapore. The top-20 supplier list includes three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC) and four fabless companies. In total, the top 20 semiconductor companies’ sales increased by only 1% in 2Q15/1Q15, the same growth rate as the total worldwide semiconductor industry. Although the top-20 semiconductor companies registered a 1% sequential increase in 2Q15, there was a 23-point spread between Samsung, the fastest growing company on the list (10% growth), and Qualcomm, the worst performing supplier (13% decline) in the ranking. Moreover, given Qualcomm’s currently dismal guidance for 3Q15, the company is on pace to post a semiconductor sales decline of 20% in calendar year 2015. © IC Insights