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According to IC Insights, a market research firm on the 22nd, Samsung Electronics posted $20.297 billion (about 24 trillion won) in sales in the semiconductor business in the second quarter of this year, up 19% from the first quarter.
Samsung Electronics overtook Intel, which recorded sales of $19.34 billion (about 22.8 trillion won), to become the global semiconductor company in terms of quarterly sales. It is the first time in 11 quarters since the third quarter of 2018 that Samsung Electronics ranked first in terms of quarterly sales.
IC Insights analyzed that the rise in prices and demand for memory semiconductors including DRAM led Samsung Electronics’ sales in the second quarter. Memory semiconductors are Samsung Electronics’ main products. Samsung Electronics’ memory semiconductor sales in the second quarter of this year were 17.87 trillion won, an increase of 24% compared to the first quarter (14.43 trillion won).
Intel has maintained the No. 1 spot in the semiconductor world by focusing on the central processing unit (CPU), a non-memory semiconductor. In the second quarter of 2017, it gave up its throne to Samsung Electronics for the first time due to the memory boom, but it regained the top spot for 10 quarters after the fourth quarter of 2018. IC Insights said, “High demand for memory semiconductors is maintained.” “As Samsung Electronics continued its upward trend in the third quarter, it recorded sales of $22.3 billion (about 26.3 trillion won), widening the gap with Intel. will,” he explained.
The industry believes that in the future, the foundry (semiconductor consignment production) business will divide the number one position between Samsung Electronics and Intel. As of the end of March, Taiwan’s TSMC ranked first with 55% of the global foundry market share. It is followed by Samsung Electronics with 17%, UMC with 7%, and GlobalFoundries with 5%.
However, recently Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced that he would re-enter the foundry business in March, sparking competition in the foundry market. Intel plans to invest at least $20 billion (about 23.6 trillion won) to build two new semiconductor manufacturing plants in Arizona, USA. Although it failed, recently, there have been rumors that Intel is pushing to acquire GlobalFoundry, the world’s fourth-largest foundry company.
As Samsung Electronics, which was chasing the No. 1 TSMC, was chased by Intel, tension grew. Of course, Samsung Electronics is also about to build a new foundry plant worth $17 billion (about 20 trillion won) in the United States. The goal is to become the world’s No. 1 player in the system semiconductor sector, including foundries, by investing 171 trillion won by 2030. Unless Intel does M&A, it is difficult to narrow the gap with Samsung in a short period of time.
An industry official said, “Samsung Electronics may maintain its No. 1 position for the time being due to the boom in memory, but there may be fluctuations depending on the industry conditions. said.
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