Samsung Electronics Ranks 2nd in Semiconductor Market in Q1... SK Hynix Falls Outside Top 10

Omdia Announces Q1 Global Semiconductor Market Statistics
Memory Market Slump Causes Related Companies' Rankings to Plummet
Intel Ranks 1st... Germany's Infineon Jumps to 7th Place

Samsung Electronics ranked second in the global semiconductor market in the first quarter, falling behind Intel. Due to the poor memory market conditions, SK Hynix, which used to be in the top three, dropped out of the top 10 in the first quarter. While the sales of major semiconductor companies all declined, only U.S. Nvidia and Germany's Infineon showed growth due to increased demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and automotive semiconductors.

On the 28th (local time), market research firm Omdia announced that the global semiconductor market size in the first quarter was $119.949 billion, down 9.4% from the previous quarter. As the semiconductor market downturn intensified last year, the total semiconductor industry sales have decreased for five consecutive quarters. Omdia described this as "the longest (sales) decline period since market statistics began in 2002."

Based on first-quarter sales, Intel ranked first ($11.139 billion). Samsung Electronics was second ($8.929 billion). Following were Qualcomm ($7.942 billion), Broadcom ($6.665 billion), AMD ($5.299 billion), Nvidia ($5.278 billion), Infineon ($4.381 billion), Apple ($4.291 billion), Texas Instruments ($4.270 billion), and STMicroelectronics ($4.427 billion).

Global Semiconductor Market Size and Sales Rankings for Q1 / [Image Source=Omdia]

Omdia analyzed that the decline in sales of memory semiconductors and microprocessor units (MPUs) pulled down the overall semiconductor market sales. In particular, the memory market recorded $19.4 billion in sales in the first quarter, which was only 44% of the $43.6 billion sales in the same period last year. The MPU market also reached $13.1 billion, just 65% of the $20 billion sales in the same period last year.

The pronounced slump in the memory market is due to the characteristics of the industry structure. Memory companies mass-produce products and then sell them in the market to make profits. Since they do not produce on order, if there is no market demand, a large inventory accumulates. Memory prices inevitably fall, which directly leads to deteriorating corporate performance.

Given this situation, Samsung Electronics, the number one memory company, was pushed to second place in the global semiconductor market in the first quarter, behind Intel. Although Samsung Electronics overtook Intel to rank first in the global semiconductor market last year, it could not avoid the worst downturn in history. Samsung Electronics’ first-quarter sales plunged 25.6% from the previous quarter and 55.7% from the same period last year.

The rankings of memory companies that were in the global top five also declined. SK Hynix, which used to be ranked 3rd to 4th, and U.S. Micron, which fluctuated between 5th and 6th, both failed to make the top 10 in the first quarter. SK Hynix, whose memory accounts for more than 90% of total sales, recorded operating losses in both the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year.

On the other hand, some companies increased sales despite the difficult market conditions. Due to increased demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and automotive semiconductors, both Nvidia and Infineon saw their sales rise compared to the previous quarter. In particular, Infineon, a leader in automotive semiconductors, saw its first-quarter sales surge 20.5% year-on-year. Ranking seventh in the first quarter, it climbed five places from the previous quarter (12th).

Omdia forecasted that Nvidia’s performance will stand out in the future due to the growing demand for generative AI. Cliff Limbach, Omdia’s chief analyst, said, "Nvidia is leading the AI field, so its sales growth is clear," adding, "It is expected to outperform most semiconductor companies’ results starting this year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.