Leading electronic equipment manufacturers accounted for $105.6bn of revenues of semiconductors, or 35% of total semiconductor vendors’ worldwide chip revenue on a design total available market (TAM) basis, according to Gartner’s study.
This represents an increase of $1.8bn, or 1.8% year over year increase from 2010.
Gartner principal research analyst Masatsune Yamaji said the major growth drivers in 2011 were smartphones, media tablets and solid-state drives (SSDs).
"Those companies that gained share in the smartphone market, such as Apple, Samsung Electronics and HTC, increased their semiconductor demand, while those who lost market share in this segment, such as Nokia and LG Electronics, decreased their semiconductor demand. Media tablets were also a growth driver for the semiconductor market throughout 2011," added Yamaji.
Out of the top ten buyers of semiconductors, three each were from the Americas, Asia/Pacific, and Japan, while one was from Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Apple replaced HP to become the biggest customer of semiconductor chip vendors in 2011, with purchases worth $17.257bn as against $12.819bn in 2010.
In 2010, it was the third largest buyer of semiconductor chips.
