Top 20 semiconductor suppliers for 2011 published by IHS

IHS' Preliminary Worldwide Ranking of Top 20 Semiconductor Suppliers in 2011 lists Intel in first position, with Samsung Electronics in second place, while Texas Instruments and Toshiba take third and fourth place respectively. The company derives most of its semiconductor revenue from selling mpu and nand flash memory, areas that IHS forecasts will generate revenue growth of between 15 and 20% this year. Intel's revenue was also boosted by its acquisition of Infineon Technologies' wireless solutions business. The analyst believes this will enable Intel to outgrow the overall semiconductor market and boost its share of the sector to 15.9%, up from 13.2% in 2010. Intel has now increased its lead over second ranked Samsung to 6.5 percentage points, despite the South Korean company closing the gap for the last three years. Dale Ford, analyst at IHS, said: "In a challenging year for the semiconductor market, Intel achieved success on all fronts, expanding its core microprocessor and memory businesses, while also capitalising on a major acquisition. This allowed the company to outgrow the market and expand its lead over its closest competitors, defying the impact of weak economic conditions and catastrophic natural disasters in Japan and Thailand." Second place Samsung, the leading dram supplier – a weak segment of the global semiconductor market, which IHS forecasts will suffer a 27% decline this year - is expected to have limited growth of 3% in 2011. Texas Instruments' acquisition of National Semiconductor, has helped it to rise one position and displace Toshiba from third place. IHS forecasts revenue growth of 8.4% for TI in 2011. Qualcomm's acquisition of Atheros Communications will propel the company up from ninth place in 2010 to sixth in 2011, with year on year semiconductor revenue growth up by 39.9%. The biggest jump in rank for 2011 is expected to be ON Semiconductor, with growth of nearly 50%. ON's acquisition of Sanyo Semiconductor from Panasonic will push it up seven places to 19th in the rankings. Conversely, the acquisition will contribute to Panasonic's 32% drop in revenue, causing it to fall by five positions to number 20.