The top-20 semiconductor companies, in total, registered a sales growth of 8% in the first half of 2011 as compared to a year earlier. The growth outpaced the overall 4% increase that the worldwide semiconductor market posted during the same period.
Intel remained firmly in control of the number one spot in the ranking. In fact, Intel extended its lead over second-ranked Samsung Electronics by registering a 43% higher sales level than Samsung in the first half of 2011 as compared to a 24% margin for all of 2010.
Although Nvidia's first-half sales increased by only 1% on year, it replaced Panasonic in the top-20 ranking. There are two pure-play foundries in the top-20 ranking and excluding these two foundry companies, Marvell and ON Semiconductor would have been included in the ranking, the research firm observed.
Of the big five memory suppliers in the top-20 ranking (Samsung, Toshiba, Hynix Semiconductor, Micron Technology and Elpida Memory), only Samsung and Toshiba registered on-year growth in the first half of 2011. Even with a stronger Japanese yen, DRAM-dependent Elpida registered the worst performance during the period with a sharp 37% drop in revenues.
Revealed that 10 of the top-20 semiconductor suppliers received a boost in sales value in the first half of 2011 when revenue figures expressed in their local currencies were converted into US dollars. In fact, these 10 semiconductor suppliers, in total, would have registered a sales decline of 4% on year in the first half, instead of a 4% increase, if their revenue figures were expressed in their local currencies.
In the first half of 2011, the Japanese yen appreciated 12%, the Taiwan dollar 10%, the euro 6%, and the Korean won 5% versus the value of the US dollar in the first half of 2010.
In total, expects modest growth in the worldwide semiconductor market in the second half of 2011. Although the semiconductor market in the second half of a year typically registers a seasonal increase of 10% as compared to the first half, growth is forecast to reach only 6% in the second half of 2011 yielding a full-year 2011 semiconductor industry growth rate of 5%.