Supplier rankings change, worldwide chip sales stay static

As the shake-up in the rankings, largely the result of the severe economic downturn that hit the semiconductor industry in 2001, occurs worldwide chip sales in February totalled A$20 billion, the same as January's sales.

Intel is still the top chip supplier in the world, according to research company iSuppli's latest rankings, but STMicroelectronics has moved up to be second in the market and Advanced Micro Devices is now the tenth biggest supplier.

"The seismic forces that rocked the semiconductor industry last year reshaped the competitive landscape, bringing major changes in the rankings of the leading semiconductor suppliers," said Dale Ford, director of market intelligence services for iSuppli. "Only three of the top 10 semiconductor suppliers, and just six of the top 30, retained the same ranking in 2001 that they had in 2000."

According to iSuppli, only 27 of the 172 companies covered in the research actually experienced revenue growth in 2001. Furthermore, out of the 49 semiconductor market subcategories, only one segment grew in 2001 and that was the market for 32-bit microcontrollers.

The company also found that only five out of the 50 semiconductor companies with revenue of more than A$1 billion achieved growth in 2001. Just three of the five grew without relying on acquisitions. According to the company's research, the global semiconductor industry shrank by 32% in 2001.

The top 10 companies, ranked by revenue from shipments of total semiconductors worldwide, are Intel, STMicro, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, Samsung, Motorola, NEC, Infineon Technologies, Philips Semiconductors and AMD.

In chip sales, the Asia/Pacific region and the Americas led the way in February 2002, while sales fell in both Europe and Japan, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

While sales remained essentially flat month-on-month, this was in line with the SIA's expectations. The organisation is looking for the industry to start picking up in the second half of 2002. "Strong consumer spending for mobile phones, DVDs and digital cameras continued to move chip sales slightly upward," George Scalise, SIA president, said.

"Although business investment has yet to pick up, consumer confidence and inventory replenishing continue to rise, driving the early stages of the overall recovery. Flat to slow growth of semiconductor sales in the first quarter of this year is in line with expectations. Our forecast calls for the second quarter to be slightly stronger with accelerating growth in the second half of 2002."

Sequentially, sales in the Americas and Asia/Pacific market accounted for about 60% of semiconductor sales worldwide, with increases of 2% and 0.3% in February. Markets in Europe and Japan registered a slight dip in February, with sales down 2% and 1% respectively.