It’s good news for the semiconductor industry today, as Gartner has revealed the prosperous market increased global revenue by 7.9% to $340.3 billion in 2014.
Intel topped the top 25 semiconductor vendors with a market share of 15.4% and 2014 revenues of $52.3bn, while Samsung came in second with a 10.2% market share and 2014 revenues of $34.7bn.
Intel’s position as the number semiconductor vendor signals a return to growth after two years of revenue decline, as PC production recovered, with sales up 7.7%.
Overall the top 25 semiconductor vendors’ combined revenue increased 11.7 per cent, which was more than the overall industry’s growth. The top 25 vendors accounted for 72.4 per cent of total market revenue, up from 69.9 per cent in 2013.
"2014 saw all device categories post positive growth, unlike in 2013, when application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), discrete and microcomponents all declined. The memory market was the best performer for the second year in a row, growing 16.6 per cent, meaning the rest of the market only achieved 4.9 per cent growth," said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner.
"As a group, DRAM vendors performed best, lifted by the booming DRAM market, which saw revenue increase 32 per cent to $46.1 billion, surpassing the all-time high of $41.8 billion set in 1995."
M&A activity was rife in the industry in 2014, with one of the most significant deals involving Avago’s take-over of LSI, propelling the company into the top 25 semiconductor vendors for the first time.
MStar Semiconductor was merged with MediaTek after a prolonged merger, and ON Semiconductor acquired Aptina Imaging. After adjusting for closed M&A activity, the top 25 semiconductor vendors grew at 9.1%.
