In the semiconductor industry for the first time in almost a quarter of a century the leader may change, analysts predict IC Insights. If the prices for memory chips remain at the current level or continue to grow, then in the second quarter of 2017 the largest semiconductor manufacturer in terms of sales could become Samsung, displacing Intel, which ranked first since 1993.
It is expected that in April-June 2017, the semiconductor revenue of the South Korean vendor will increase by 7.5% on a quarterly basis and reach $ 14.9 billion, while the corresponding figure for Intel will be $ 14.4 billion.
"If a change of leader happens, it will be a landmark achievement not only for Samsung, but for other participants in the semiconductor industry, which for years have been trying to take away from Intel the title of the largest supplier of semiconductor products," says the study..
Experts note that not so long ago, in the first quarter of 2016, Intel outperformed Samsung in terms of revenue from the sale of chips by 40%: the companies' figures were then equal to 13.1 and 9.34 billion dollars respectively.
However, in just a year, the South Korean chip maker significantly reduced the backlog: in January-March 2017, Samsung earned $ 13.58 billion on semiconductor products against $ 14.22 billion from Intel.
The rapid growth in Samsung's performance was supported by a significant rise in price of DRAM and NAND flash chips, which was observed in 2016 and continued in 2017. Although in the second half of this year, price growth should slow down, the IC Insights forecast provides that the volume of the DRAM-memory market in money this year will increase by 39%, and the revenue in the NAND flash segment will rise by 25%.
"Over the past 24 years, some companies have reduced the gap in sales between themselves and Intel, but no one has yet been able to surpass the revenue of the processor giant. If memory prices do not fall in the second half of the year, Samsung may well drive out Intel from the first place and following the results of this year, "analysts say..
According to IC Insights, Samsung's semiconductor sales, as well as Intel's, may amount to about $ 60 billion.
It is worth adding that the American and South Korean giants recently reported on financial results in the past quarter. According to the results of the first three calendar months of 2017, Intel's sales reached $ 14.8 billion, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year. Net profit for this time rose by 45%, from 2 to 3 billion dollars.
Samsung in the same period registered more than 46 percent increase in net income, and also reported a near-record-breaking operating profit. Samsung connects financial success with the growth of sales of advanced memory chips.