Electronics Production |
Top20 memory suppliers’ sales with back-to-back 19% growth rates
Top memory suppliers sales jump by an average of 27%, states IC Insights in their Research Bulletin.
As shown in Figure 1, the top 20 semiconductor companies, in total, registered a 3Q09/2Q09 sales increase of 19%. This followed the strong 19% increase logged by the top 20 suppliers in 2Q09/1Q09. In 3Q09, the DRAM and NAND flash markets surged and helped Toshiba and Hynix post 3Q09/2Q09 sales increases of 30% and 31%, respectively.
Figure 1 shows the Top20 semiconductor companies ranked by sales through the first three quarters of 2009. If only 3Q09 figures were used, Freescale would drop out of the ranking and be replaced by Japanese DRAM supplier Elpida, which had 3Q09 sales of $1,025 million (an increase of 38% over its 2Q09 sales).
Even though 2009 will go down as one of the steepest downturns in semiconductor history (-12%), four of the top 20 companies are expected to register higher sales in 2009 than in 2008, the market researcher continues. Using company guidance as well as IC Insights’ forecasts for 4Q09 semiconductor sales levels, Samsung, Toshiba, Qualcomm, and MediaTek are expected to show sales growth this year. Quite an accomplishment considering that 2009 is likely to be the worst recession to hit the worldwide economy in 63 years.
Even though 2009 will go down as one of the steepest downturns in semiconductor history (-12%), four of the top 20 companies are expected to register higher sales in 2009 than in 2008, the market researcher continues. Using company guidance as well as IC Insights’ forecasts for 4Q09 semiconductor sales levels, Samsung, Toshiba, Qualcomm, and MediaTek are expected to show sales growth this year. Quite an accomplishment considering that 2009 is likely to be the worst recession to hit the worldwide economy in 63 years.
