Samsung Dethrones Intel As Chip Sector Grows 26% in 2021
zafiro17 writes:
South Korea the big winner in a year of supply struggles and continued shortages
Despite (and perhaps because) of ongoing shortages, the semiconductor industry posted $595 billion in revenue in 2021, an increase of 26.3 percent over 2020.
The numbers, from Gartner, also make plain the effects of US sanctions against China, whose market share fell, and which did not have a single manufacturer present in the top 10 list (sorted by total 2021 revenue).
The biggest news of the report was Samsung overtaking Intel in the top spot, albeit barely: Samsung's chip biz grew 28 percent from 2020 to 2021, while Intel lost 0.3 percent over the same period. Now Samsung sits atop the list with $73.2 billion in revenue and a 12.3 percent market share, while Intel nips at its heels with $72.5 billion in revenue and a 12.2 percent share of the spoils. It's a lead, but one that could easily evaporate by the end of 2022.
Other things to note from the report are that this profit is occurring despite the chip shortage, which appears that it will continue longer than expected, China has been feeling the squeeze as the result of US sanctions on Huawei and other companies, and that South Korea was the fastest growing country by market share.
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