Worldwide semiconductor revenues are set to total US$315.4 billion in 2013, a 5.2% increase from US$299.9 billion in 2012, according to Gartner. The top-25 semiconductor vendors' combined revenues are expected to increase 6.2%, a significantly better performance than the rest of the market, whose revenue growth will be 2.9%.

　　"After a weak start to 2013 due to excess inventory, revenue growth strengthened in the second and third quarters before leveling off in the fourth quarter. Memory, in particular DRAM, led this growth, not due to strong demand, but rather weak supply growth," said Andrew Norwood, research VP at Gartner. "In fact, the overall market faced a number of demand headwinds with PC production declining 9% and the premium smartphone market showing signs of saturation, with growth tilting toward lower-priced, entry-level and midrange smartphone models. These demand headwinds become very visible when looking at revenue growth outside of memory, where the rest of the semiconductor market could only muster 0.4% growth."

　　As a group, memory vendors will outperform the rest of the semiconductor industry, Gartner noted.

　　"Within the memory market DRAM was in the midst of a strong rebound following two years of revenue decline; the recovery started at the end of 2012 when the market was moving back into an undersupply due to lack of new capacity resulting in commodity DRAM pricing more than doubling during the year," Norwood continued.

　　SK Hynix and Micron Technology have benefited the most from the strong memory market in 2013, propelling them both into the top five for the first time, Gartner indicated.

　　SK Hynix's revenues are set to soar 43.2% in 2013, thanks to its exposure to the booming commodity DRAM market. Revenues could have been higher had it not been for a major fire at the company's DRAM fab in Wuxi, China, which accounts for 50% of the company's DRAM production, Gartner pointed out.

　　Micron will enjoy the biggest revenue growth among the top 25 in 2013, due to its mid-year acquisition of Elpida Memory, Gartner said. The company has benefited from the recovery in commodity DRAM pricing and strong growth for low-power DRAM where Elpida is strong. In NAND flash, Micron is able to aggressively push its NAND into the computing segment, which will represent roughly 60% of its demand in 2013, Gartner indicated.

　　By focusing on the low- and mid-tier handset segments in China and other emerging markets, a segment of the handset market that is still booming, MediaTek will manage to generate a 35% revenue increase in 2013, Gartner disclosed. Fellow firm Qualcomm is set to enjoy revenue growth of 28%. Qualcomm has dominated the first-tier OEMs and high-end segments, and wrestled share away from its competitors, Gartner said.