Semiconductor Sales: Samsung Moves from 1st to 2nd Place... Hopes for Second Half Amid Memory Slump

Omdia Announces Semiconductor Market Statistics for Q1
Last Year's No.1 Samsung Electronics Falls to 2nd Place in Q1
Memory No.3 Micron Offers Positive Outlook

Samsung Electronics fell to second place in the global semiconductor market in the first quarter, trailing behind the US company Intel. SK Hynix, which was in fourth place, dropped out of the top 10. As the semiconductor industry downturn continues, sales of memory semiconductor companies, which are highly affected by the economy, have significantly decreased. However, there are forecasts that the market situation will improve in the second half of the year.

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 and 25.4% from the same period last year. Due to the semiconductor market slump that began last year, the total semiconductor industry sales have declined 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), and Samsung Electronics was second ($8.929 billion). Following were US companies Qualcomm ($7.942 billion), Broadcom ($6.665 billion), and AMD ($5.299 billion). SK Hynix, which was fourth last year, and Micron, which was sixth, fell out of the top 10. Since Omdia only released the rankings of the top 10 companies, the exact rankings of these two companies are difficult to determine.

Omdia analyzed that the decline in sales of memory semiconductors and microprocessor units (MPUs) pulled down the overall semiconductor market sales. In particular, first-quarter memory market sales were $19.3 billion, only 44% of the $43.6 billion recorded in the same period last year.

However, there are signs that the memory semiconductor sector, where Korea is strong, is improving. Micron announced that its sales for the third quarter (March to May) of fiscal year 2023 decreased by 56.58% year-on-year to $3.752 billion. The operating loss was $1.761 billion. Although losses have continued since the first quarter, the results exceeded the market sales forecast ($3.65 billion).

Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron, said, "We believe the memory industry has passed the sales bottom," adding, "As the industry supply and demand balance gradually recovers, margins are expected to improve." There is also analysis that demand for high-value memory, such as for artificial intelligence (AI), will increase in the second half of the year, further improving the situation.

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