Intel has held its seat as the world’s top semiconductor supplier since 1993, but Samsung may finally be poised to overtake its rival in the second quarter.
New market research from IC Insights indicates that if memory market prices increase or even remain at current levels through the rest of the second quarter, Samsung’s sales totals could very well top those from Intel.
Samsung has held the number two position behind Intel since 2006, and both have been growing their total sales figures since then. Back in 2006, Samsung generated $19.7 billion in semiconductor sales to Intel’s $31.6 billion. But by 2016, the companies’ sales totals had increased to $44.3 billion for Samsung and $57 billion for Intel. Qualcomm was in third place last year with $15.4 billion in sales.
In the first quarter of this year, Samsung pulled within a hair’s length of Intel’s sales totals, with $13.6 billion to Intel’s $14.2 billion. Assuming the mid-range sales guidance Intel laid out for its second quarter, as well as a modest projected second quarter sales increase of 7.5 percent for Samsung, IC Insights said Samsung would unseat Intel as the leading semiconductor supplier for the period.
Credit: IC Insights
“If achieved, this would mark a milestone achievement not only for Samsung, specifically, but for all other competing semiconductor producers who have tried for years to supplant Intel as the world’s largest supplier,” IC Insights wrote. “In 1Q16, Intel’s sales were 40 percent greater than Samsung’s, but in just over a year’s time, that lead may be erased and Intel may find itself trailing in quarterly sales.”
Samsung’s massive leap to the top comes courtesy of a sharp rise in average selling prices (ASPs) for DRAM and NAND flash. DRAM alone has jumped 45 percent from an ASP of $2.63 in the first quarter 2016 to $3.82 in the most recent quarter. Similarly, NAND flash prices have increased 40 percent year over year from $2.79 in the first quarter 2016 to $3.79 in the first quarter of this year.
IC Insights said this trend is expected to taper off in the second half of this year, but the firm has forecast 39 percent growth for the DRAM market in 2017 and 25 percent growth for NAND flash this year.
IC Insights’ forecast meshes well with separate estimates from TrendForce, which predicted the overall DRAM market will continue to see prices climb throughout this year.
