Worldwide semiconductor revenues increased more than 24% on year to US$282 billion in 2010. Device applications, such as smartphones, media tablets and e-readers, automotive infotainment, notebook PCs, datacenter servers, and wireless and wired communication infrastructure, drove robust consumption of semiconductors.
"The semiconductor market saw one of its best years in 2010, with many leading companies able to grow both top line revenues and cash position," said Mali Venkatesan, research manager. "Based on the historical semiconductor revenue trends, projected overcapacity in foundries in late 2H11, and current macroeconomic problems (the earthquake in Japan, continued high unemployment in the US, high US debt, and global inflation fears), we expect 2011 semiconductor revenue growth to be in the 6-8% range."
Intel, with total semiconductor revenues of US$41.9 billion in 2010, once again was the overall market leader. Samsung was the number-two vendor overall with revenues of US$27.6 billion. Rounding out the top-5 chip suppliers were Texas Instruments (TI), Toshiba and Hynix. Together, the top-10 vendors represented 51% of the overall market revenues, an increase of 6% over 2009.
Many companies grew revenues substantially over the industry average in 2010. Among them were memory, analog, and microcontroller vendors, in addition to many that serve the communication and consumer market segments. Notable small-medium sized companies experiencing strong growth in 2010 were Trident Microsystems, Spreadtrum Communications, NetLogic, Aptina, Seoul Semiconductor, ICERA, Cavium, and Atheros. Apple, with its semiconductor revenues coming from A4 chips, enjoyed growth of more than 130% in 2010.
Within the semiconductor device types, more and more data processing and communication chips are being designed for specific applications. "There is a definite migration to smart system on a chip. (SSoCs) as device applications move to embrace high-level operating systems, connectivity, and application processing capabilities," Venkatesan said.
Driven by industry consolidation and competition, several companies disappeared from the 2010 list (such as NEC Electronics, Numonix, and Silicon Storage Technologies). "We expect M&A to be the key theme for 2011, as small- and medium-size companies become potential targets, with many more to come later this year," Venkatesan said.