Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Growth Slows in Second Half of Year, Despite Projected 23 Percent Increase for 2004, According to Preliminary Results by Gartner
Samsung and Texas Instruments Show Strongest Growth Rates Among Top 10 Vendors
STAMFORD, Conn., December 21, 2004 — Worldwide semiconductor revenue is on track for a 23-percent increase in 2004, to $218 billion in revenue, however the industry has experienced a significant slowdown in the second half of the year, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc.
"The sudden downturn in the semiconductor market in the final months of 2004 has been caused by vendor sensitivity to an incremental buildup of channel inventory," said Gerald Van Hoy, industry analyst for Gartner's Semiconductors Worldwide group. "In a break from the past, semiconductor vendors have reacted quickly and decisively by throttling back output. They are determined to avoid the type of market crash that occurred in 2001 following a huge inventory buildup."
Intel remained the No. 1 vendor based on worldwide semiconductor revenue (see Table 1) for the 13th consecutive year, based on its strength in compute microprocessor sales. Samsung Electronics increased revenue by 49 percent. The company benefited from success in the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) and NAND flash memory markets. Samsung Electronics also is a market leader in liquid crystal displays, and driver chips, and it is competing well in microprocessors for MP3 players, digital cameras and cellular phones.
Table 1
Final Top 10 Worldwide Semiconductor Vendors by Revenue Estimates (Millions of U.S. Dollars)
2004 Rank
2003 Rank
Co.
2004 Rev
2004 Market Share(%)
2003 Rev
2003 Market Share (%)
2004-2003 Growth (%)
1
1
Intel
30,509
14.0
27,103
15.3
12.6
2
2
Sam sung Electr onics
15,640
7.2
10,502
5.9
48.9
3
4
Texas Instru ments
9,714
4.4
7,410
4.2
31.1
4
7
Infin eon Techno logies
8,903
4.1
6,864
3.9
29.7
5
3
Ren esas Techn ology
8,849
4.1
7,936
4.5
11.5
5
5
Tosh iba
8,849
4.1
7,356
4.1
20.3
7
6
ST Micro lectr onics
8,752
4.0
7,180
4.0
21.9
8
8
NEC Electr onics
6,750
3.1
5,845
3.6
15.5
9
10
Philips Semi cond uctors
5,720
2.6
4,512
2.5
26.8
10
9
Free scale
5,697
2.6
4,628
2.6
23.1
Others
109,087
49.9
87,706
49.5
24.4
Total
218,470
100.0
177,042
100.0
23.4
Source: Gartner Dataquest (December 2004)
Texas Instruments moved into the No. 3 position with another strong performance in wireless communications chips and application-specific products. Infineon Technologies benefited from a strong DRAM market. For only the second time, Infineon was Europe?s largest chip-maker, moving ahead of STMicroelectronics.
On a regional basis, the Asia/Pacific market showed the strongest growth rate with a 34.6 percent increase in semiconductor revenue in 2004. Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) had growth of 19.8 percent, the Americas had a 16 percent increase, and Japan rose 14.6 percent.
Additional information is available in the Gartner Alert Despite Growth, Next Downcycle for Semiconductor Market Under Way. This Alert provides preliminary rankings for the top 25 companies worldwide as well as the top 10 vendors in the Americas, EMEA, Asia/Pacific and Japan. The report is available on Gartner?s Web site.
This research is produced by Gartner's Semiconductors Worldwide group. This research group combines memory, microcomponents, logic, ASIC, analog, discrete device, RF and optical segments into a complete industry picture. Products, suppliers, startups, technologies, regional consumption, applications and emerging technologies are all covered in this broad program. To subscribe to this service, please contact Pia Rieppo at 408-468-8710 or at pia.rieppo@gartner.com. More information on Gartner's semiconductor research can be found in the Gartner Semiconductor Focus Area at http://www.gartner.com/semiconductors.
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