Samsung overtakes Intel to become the leading semiconductor vendor in the world

Samsung Electronics has replaced Intel as the leading semiconductor vendor worldwide in terms of revenue for the first time since 2018, Gartner said in its latest report.  

Samsung made $73,197 million in revenue from semiconductors, growing at 28% year-on-year (YoY) in 2021 as compared to $57,181 million in 2020. The South Korean company now accounts for 12.3% of the semiconductor market, which gives it a slender lead over Intel, which is now the second leading vendor with 12.2% of the market share.  

Intel was the only vendor in the top ten that didn’t see any change in revenue growth in 2021. Its revenue declined by 0.3%. AMD was the fastest-growing vendor in 2021 with 68.6% growth in revenue, even though its market share was only 2%.

Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner said South Korea had the largest increase in market share in 2021 as strong growth in the memory market spurred South Korea to account for 19.3% of the global semiconductor market.

Also read: Samsung to invest Rs 1,588 cr in India to set up new compressor plant

The US sanction on Huawei also created a space for other brands as the Chinese company’s revenue declined by 81% in 2021.

Samsung had recently restructured its global leadership and business. In December 2021, Kyehyun Kyung was appointed as one of the CEOs and head of the DS division, which includes their semiconductor business and products such as Exynos chips, image sensors, storage, and display integrated circuits.    

The importance of semiconductor business also reflected in the company’s last quarterly results. In January, Samsung reported a 53% increase in operating profit in the December quarter of 2021. The semiconductor business accounted for over 63.7% of the total during the quarter, according to Samsung.  

The shortage of chips due to supply chain constraints brought on by Covid-19 and the growing demand to meet the digital transformation efforts of organizations has created a huge market for semiconductors. Several non-chip companies have entered the space and are planning to set up fabs. In India, industrialist Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta said it is planning to set up an assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) plant and will invest up to $15 billion. Though India barely has any semiconductor manufacturing, the Rs 76,000 crore incentive scheme announced by the government in December 2021 has created a lot of interest and was appreciated by vendors including Intel. However, Intel has clearly indicated that it has no plans to set up a fab in India.

Among established vendors, Samsung announced last year that it will increase investment in foundry businesses to 171 trillion Won (approximately $144 billion). In November 2021, Samsung also announced that it is starting a microchip factory in Texas with an investment of $17 billion. The plant is expected to be operational in 2024.

Intel on its part is planning to invest up to $100 billion to set up its largest chip-making facility in Ohio, US. In January the US company started with an initial investment of $20 billion in the 1,000-acre site.