After losing its first place in the world of smartphones, Samsung Electronics also lost its first place in the world ranking of semiconductor sales in 2023. He had been at the top of the rankings for two years. Intel takes first place in what looks like a cross-country battle between the two companies. Industry analysts cite the recession in the memory market to explain these movements.
According to Gartner, Samsung Electronics recorded revenues in this segment of $39.95 billion last year, a decrease of 37.5% compared to the previous year ($63.83 billion).
Intel’s revenue of $48.64 billion last year was down 16.7 percent from the previous year ($58.36 billion). But as this drop is less significant than that of Samsung, it allows it to return to first place, which it claimed in 2021.
Nvidia is taking advantage of the situation
SK Hynix had revenue of $22.76 billion last year, a drop of 32.1% from 2022 ($33.55 billion).
Nvidia reported revenue of $23.98 billion last year, a whopping 56.4% increase from the previous year ($15.31 billion), and moved up seven places from twelfth place in 2022 to fifth in 2023. Nvidia’s rise is due to an 80% share of the graphics processing unit (GPU) market for AI.
GPU competitor AMD recorded revenue of $23.62 billion, down 5.6% from the previous year. Nvidia’s ranking remains unchanged at seventh place.
Total revenue for the top 25 semiconductor suppliers fell 14.1%
Other companies that performed well were Qualcomm in third position ($29.15 billion), Broadcom in fourth position ($25.85 billion), STMicroelectronics in eighth position ($17.57 billion), Apple in ninth position ($17.05 billion) and Texas Instruments in tenth position ($16.37 billion).
Last year, global semiconductor revenue fell 11.1% from the previous year, to $533 billion. In particular, sales of memory products fell 37%, representing the largest decline in the semiconductor market segment. Total revenue for the top 25 semiconductor vendors fell 14.1% from last year, with their total market share falling to 74.4% in 2023 from 77.2% in 2022 .
“Memory product revenues fell 37% last year, the largest decline of any segment of the semiconductor market,” said Joe Unsworth, an analyst at Gartner, “especially during the first In the first half of last year, all three major DRAM and NAND markets – smartphones, PCs and servers – faced weaker-than-expected demand and overstocking from channels.”
Non-memory product sales performed better last year
In 2023, DRAM revenue declined 38.5% to $48.4 billion and NAND Flash revenue declined 37.5% to $36.2 billion.
Non-memory product revenue fared better last year, down just 3%. This limited decline is due to weak market demand and excess inventory, which had a negative impact throughout the year.
“Unlike memory sellers, most non-memory companies benefited from a relatively favorable pricing environment last year,” Mr. Unsworth said. “The strongest growth driver has been demand for non-memory semiconductors for artificial intelligence applications, with the automotive sector, including electric vehicles, and the defense and aerospace industries outperforming most other segments to boost revenues.”
Source: “ZDNet Korea”