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© IHS Markit
Analysis |

Semiconductor market suffers another plunge in Q3

With revenue plunging by a gut-wrenching 14.7% in the third quarter, the global semiconductor market appears destined for a year of double-digit decline, despite some signs of growth in the critical memory segment, says IHS Markit.

Global semiconductor revenue totaled USD 111.3 billion in the third quarter of 2019, down from USD 130.5 billion during the same period in 2018, according to IHS Markit, now a part of Informa Tech. This follows year-over-year declines of 15.3% in the second quarter and 12.4% in the first quarter. With three quarters in the books, semiconductor revenue is on track to drop by 12.4% for the full year. In aggregate, semiconductor revenue for the first three quarters of 2019 declined by 14.2% compared to the first three quarters of 2018—a USD 52 billion drop—as reported by the IHS Markit's Competitive Landscaping Tool report. This massive decline was driven by weak conditions in the memory market, an area that now may be showing signs of recovery. “Memory chips have been dragging down the semiconductor market throughout 2019,” said Ron Ellwanger, senior research analyst at IHS Markit | Technology. “Memory revenue growth has been undermined by severe excess inventory, as well as by weak demand from the cloud and enterprise server businesses. Although memory revenue declined on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter, it grew compared to the second quarter, indicating that conditions are recovering in the memory segment.” Memory issues Memory revenue fell by 34.4% during the first nine months of 2019, compared to a 6.6% decline for analog chips, the second biggest-declining semiconductor product category. Despite the recent positive development in the memory business, the semiconductor market’s woes are continuing in the fourth quarter. Global chip revenue is expected to decline by 7% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2018. Intel on top Intel retained the No.-1 semiconductor ranking in the third quarter, with strong revenue growth of 16.3% compared to the second quarter. For the first three quarters of the year, Intel managed to limit its revenue decline to just 1.1%, compared to a 33.8% plunge for No.-2 ranked Samsung. “Intel has continued to perform well in all application markets, particularly in the wireless segment,” said Vladimir Galabov, principal analyst at IHS Markit | Technology. “The company supplies modems for wireless devices, as well as FPGAs and ASSPs for cellular base stations, which have been enjoying healthy demand.”​ Global semiconductor revenue by quarter (in million USD)
2Q19 Rank3Q19 RankCompany2Q19 Revenue3Q19 RevenuePercentage change
11Intel16,23918,89416.3%
22Samsung13,03313,7485.5%
33Sk Hynix5,4595,6213.0%
44Micron4,7634,723-0.8%
55Broadcom4,4634,6855.0%
66Texas Instruments3,5783,6712.6%
77Qualcomm3,5313,5731.2%
88NVidia2,3272,77519.3%
159Sony Semiconductor1,8992,68841.5%
1010STMicroelectronics2,1732,55317.5%
Intel also experienced growth in the solid-state drive (SSD) and memory markets, with a 37.2% increase in revenue compared to the second quarter of 2019, although it is a small player in these areas. During the first nine months of the year, the top three memory suppliers—Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron—all saw their revenue decrease by at least 33% compared to the same time period in 2018. Besides Intel, only one company among the top-10 generated growth: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corp. Sony has been the shining star of the chip market this year, with revenue rising 27.1 compared to the first three quarters of 2018. The company moved into the top-10 ranking in the third quarter, gaining six places to rise to ninth place, up from 15th in the second quarter. Sony’s CMOS image sensor business is thriving due to an increase in wireless handset sales and the expanding use of multiple cameras in each handset.

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March 15 2024 2:25 pm V22.4.5-1
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