Electronics Production |
Semiconductor makers top-25
After years of coming close to breaking into the top-10 global semiconductor rankings, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. finally hit the big time in 2006, according to a preliminary ranking from iSuppli Corp.
AMD's semiconductor revenue is expected to explode by a stunning 90 percent in 2006, which will cause the company's ranking to jump eight places, making it the world's seventh-largest chip maker for the year. Hynix is set to achieve an impressive 32.5 percent increase in revenue, pushing its ranking up three positions to take the No. 8 position in 2006.
The table below presents iSuppli's preliminary ranking of the world's top-25 semiconductor suppliers in 2006.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) acquired ATI Technologies in 2006. AMD revenue for 2006 includes ATI Technologies revenue for the full year of 2006.
Qimonda was formed in 2006 from a spinout of the memory division of Infineon. Revenue for both companies is separated for the full year of 2006.
"This marks the first time in the six years iSuppli has been compiling annual semiconductor rankings that AMD and Hynix have rated among the top 10," said Dale Ford, vice president, market intelligence services for iSuppli. "This is an impressive accomplishment for both companies."
The strong performance of the two companies comes amid renewed strength in worldwide semiconductor sales for the year. iSuppli's revised estimate for semiconductor sales in 2006 foresees revenue of $258.5 billion, up 9 percent from $237.3 billion in 2005. iSuppli previously
forecasted 7.8 percent growth for the year.
AMD's revenues in 2006 are expected to increase to $7.5 billion, up $3.6 billion from $3.9 billion in 2005.
AMD's rapid rise in revenue this year is due to strong growth in its microprocessor sales, combined with its acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI Technologies in October. U.S.-based AMD is expected to achieve approximately 37.5 percent growth in its microprocessor revenue in 2006
on the strength of its highly popular dual-core products.
However, the addition of ATI's revenue was a more significant factor behind AMD's near-doubling in sales for the year.
There's a certain poetic justice to the ATI acquisition boosting AMD into iSuppli's top-10 ranks in 2006; AMD in 2005 just missed making the top-10 due to the sale of its Spansion flash-memory division. This caused AMD's ranking to drop to 15th in 2005, compared to eighth place if the company had not sold Spansion during the year.
South-Korean pure-play memory chip maker Hynix in 2006 achieved semiconductor revenue of $7.4 billion, up $1.8 billion from $5.6 billion in 2005, driven by surging sales of its lines of DRAM and NAND-type flash memory. iSuppli projects Hynix's DRAM revenue will grow by $1.1billion in 2006 and its NAND flash revenue will rise by $770 million.
In comparison, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd., the world's leading supplier of memory chips, is expected to see its memory revenue increase by a smaller amount in 2006, at a $1.77 billion rise.
"Hynix's achievement of surpassing the much-larger Samsung in terms of dollar growth in memory chip revenue in 2006 represents a considerable accomplishment," Ford said.
Seven of the top-10 semiconductor suppliers in 2006 will achieve revenue growth in excess of the overall industry projected growth of 9 percent. Texas Instruments Inc. of the United States stands out with projected revenue growth of 19.4 percent in 2006, the third highest rate of expansion among the top-10 suppliers after AMD and Hynix. The company continues to benefit from its dominant position in mobile-phone silicon.
Beyond AMD and Hynix, four other companies among the top-25 semiconductor suppliers will achieve growth greater than 25 percent in 2006: communications chip specialists Qualcomm and Broadcom, and memory suppliers Elpida and Spansion. This reflects broad strength for the wireless and memory chip markets in 2006.
Japanese pure-play DRAM supplier Elpida is expected to leap to No. 20 in the rankings in 2006, up from 28 in 2005. Elpida's revenue will increase by $1.6 billion for the year, representing nearly 89 percent growth.
Infineon Technologies AG of Germany dropped out of the top-10 rankings in 2006 due to the spin-off of its memory business, now called Qimonda AG. If Infineon and Qimonda had not been split in 2006, the combined company would have seen its revenue grow by 29.5 percent and it would have moved to fourth place, up from sixth in 2005. As separate companies, Qimonda is projected to rank No. 12 and Infineon 14th in 2006.
Intel Corp., Renesas Technology and NEC are the only semiconductor companies among 2005's top 10 to see their revenues decline in 2006. NEC will drop out of the top 10 due to its expected annual revenue decline of 0.2 percent.
Following a year of outstanding growth in 2005, Intel is projected to see its revenue decline by 11.6 percent in 2006. Intel's 2006 revenue decline is driven primarily by its falling revenue in microprocessors and NOR-type flash memory. The company's divestiture of its XScale mobile-phone semiconductor business to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. this year had a relatively minor impact on its revenue compared to its travails in microprocessors and NOR.
Intel's revenue decline will leave the company with its lowest share of the market since before 2000, at 12.1 percent.
iSuppli projects that the global semiconductor market will grow by 9 percent in 2006 based on iSuppli's quarterly semiconductor market share research of 110 leading semiconductor suppliers. Memory chips are driving the growth of the industry with projected annual growth of 21.5 percent for the year. DRAM is the key factor propelling memory IC revenue expansion in 2006 with forecasted growth of 32 percent.
In contrast, microcomponents represent the only major semiconductor category that will see a revenue decline in 2006, with a drop of 0.3 percent.
Microprocessor revenues will decline by 6.6 percent for the year due to aggressive market-share battles that are driving down prices. However, sales revenue for digital signal processors will rise by 6.6 percent for the year.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) acquired ATI Technologies in 2006. AMD revenue for 2006 includes ATI Technologies revenue for the full year of 2006.
Qimonda was formed in 2006 from a spinout of the memory division of Infineon. Revenue for both companies is separated for the full year of 2006.
"This marks the first time in the six years iSuppli has been compiling annual semiconductor rankings that AMD and Hynix have rated among the top 10," said Dale Ford, vice president, market intelligence services for iSuppli. "This is an impressive accomplishment for both companies."
The strong performance of the two companies comes amid renewed strength in worldwide semiconductor sales for the year. iSuppli's revised estimate for semiconductor sales in 2006 foresees revenue of $258.5 billion, up 9 percent from $237.3 billion in 2005. iSuppli previously
forecasted 7.8 percent growth for the year.
AMD's revenues in 2006 are expected to increase to $7.5 billion, up $3.6 billion from $3.9 billion in 2005.
AMD's rapid rise in revenue this year is due to strong growth in its microprocessor sales, combined with its acquisition of graphics chip maker ATI Technologies in October. U.S.-based AMD is expected to achieve approximately 37.5 percent growth in its microprocessor revenue in 2006
on the strength of its highly popular dual-core products.
However, the addition of ATI's revenue was a more significant factor behind AMD's near-doubling in sales for the year.
There's a certain poetic justice to the ATI acquisition boosting AMD into iSuppli's top-10 ranks in 2006; AMD in 2005 just missed making the top-10 due to the sale of its Spansion flash-memory division. This caused AMD's ranking to drop to 15th in 2005, compared to eighth place if the company had not sold Spansion during the year.
South-Korean pure-play memory chip maker Hynix in 2006 achieved semiconductor revenue of $7.4 billion, up $1.8 billion from $5.6 billion in 2005, driven by surging sales of its lines of DRAM and NAND-type flash memory. iSuppli projects Hynix's DRAM revenue will grow by $1.1billion in 2006 and its NAND flash revenue will rise by $770 million.
In comparison, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd., the world's leading supplier of memory chips, is expected to see its memory revenue increase by a smaller amount in 2006, at a $1.77 billion rise.
"Hynix's achievement of surpassing the much-larger Samsung in terms of dollar growth in memory chip revenue in 2006 represents a considerable accomplishment," Ford said.
Seven of the top-10 semiconductor suppliers in 2006 will achieve revenue growth in excess of the overall industry projected growth of 9 percent. Texas Instruments Inc. of the United States stands out with projected revenue growth of 19.4 percent in 2006, the third highest rate of expansion among the top-10 suppliers after AMD and Hynix. The company continues to benefit from its dominant position in mobile-phone silicon.
Beyond AMD and Hynix, four other companies among the top-25 semiconductor suppliers will achieve growth greater than 25 percent in 2006: communications chip specialists Qualcomm and Broadcom, and memory suppliers Elpida and Spansion. This reflects broad strength for the wireless and memory chip markets in 2006.
Japanese pure-play DRAM supplier Elpida is expected to leap to No. 20 in the rankings in 2006, up from 28 in 2005. Elpida's revenue will increase by $1.6 billion for the year, representing nearly 89 percent growth.
Infineon Technologies AG of Germany dropped out of the top-10 rankings in 2006 due to the spin-off of its memory business, now called Qimonda AG. If Infineon and Qimonda had not been split in 2006, the combined company would have seen its revenue grow by 29.5 percent and it would have moved to fourth place, up from sixth in 2005. As separate companies, Qimonda is projected to rank No. 12 and Infineon 14th in 2006.
Intel Corp., Renesas Technology and NEC are the only semiconductor companies among 2005's top 10 to see their revenues decline in 2006. NEC will drop out of the top 10 due to its expected annual revenue decline of 0.2 percent.
Following a year of outstanding growth in 2005, Intel is projected to see its revenue decline by 11.6 percent in 2006. Intel's 2006 revenue decline is driven primarily by its falling revenue in microprocessors and NOR-type flash memory. The company's divestiture of its XScale mobile-phone semiconductor business to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. this year had a relatively minor impact on its revenue compared to its travails in microprocessors and NOR.
Intel's revenue decline will leave the company with its lowest share of the market since before 2000, at 12.1 percent.
iSuppli projects that the global semiconductor market will grow by 9 percent in 2006 based on iSuppli's quarterly semiconductor market share research of 110 leading semiconductor suppliers. Memory chips are driving the growth of the industry with projected annual growth of 21.5 percent for the year. DRAM is the key factor propelling memory IC revenue expansion in 2006 with forecasted growth of 32 percent.
In contrast, microcomponents represent the only major semiconductor category that will see a revenue decline in 2006, with a drop of 0.3 percent.
Microprocessor revenues will decline by 6.6 percent for the year due to aggressive market-share battles that are driving down prices. However, sales revenue for digital signal processors will rise by 6.6 percent for the year.
