Infineon gains in top-50 chip rankings for 2004
By Mark LaPedus , Courtesy of Silicon Strategies
Mar 14, 2005 (2:42 PM)
URL: http://www.eetuk.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159900106


SAN JOSE, Calif. — Intel Corp. was the world's largest semiconductor
supplier in terms of sales in 2004, but Germany's Infineon Technologies AG
shook up the rankings last year, according to the top-50 IC rankings from IC
Insights Inc. on Monday (March 14).(See Table 1 below)


At the same time, Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. was the fastest
growing semiconductor company in 2004. (See Table 2 below)


In terms of the top-10 chip makers for 2004, Intel was first in terms of
worldwide sales, followed by Samsung, Texas Instruments, Infineon, Renesas,
STMicroelectronics, Toshiba, TSMC, NEC, and Philips, according to market
research firm IC Insights (Scottsdale, Ariz.). The list also includes silicon
foundries, according to the firm.


In 2003, Intel was also first, followed by Samung, TI, Renesas, Toshiba,
STMicroelectronics, Infineon, TSMC, NEC, and Philips, according to the firm.

Freescale Semiconductor Inc. fell off the top-10 list in 2004. Freescale was
in 10th place in terms of sales in 2003, but the company fell to 11th in
2004.


Total 2004 top 10 semiconductor company sales grew 23 percent over 2003. In
contrast, the worldwide 2004 semiconductor market grew 28 percent.


With 23 suppliers headquartered in the U.S., 13 in Japan, 6 in Taiwan, 3 in
Europe, 3 in South Korea, and 1 each in Singapore and Canada, the top-50 list
of semiconductor suppliers contains a wide representation of geographic
regions.


In total, Intel surpassed $30 billion in semiconductor sales in 2004.
However, the company registered only 14 percent growth in 2004, and displayed
an average growth rate of 4 percent from 1999-to-2004, as compared to an
industry-wide 7 percent over this same time period, according to IC Insights.

Driven by surging DRAM and flash memory sales, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
remained in second place and saw its semiconductor revenue grow by 52 percent
in 2004.

Texas Instruments Inc. remained in third place in terms of worldwide IC sales
in 2004. But Infineon jumped from the 7th position in 2003 to 4th in 2004,
according to IC Insights. The company was helped by the increasing strength
of the euro as well as surging sales of DRAM, according to the research firm.

Separately, Powerchip Semiconductor was the fastest growing semiconductor
company in 2004, followed by Elpida, MagnaChip, ProMOS, Hynix, SanDisk, ATI,
Marvell, Samsung and Chartered, according to IC Insights.