TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — South Korea’s Samsung has replaced Intel as the world’s top semiconductor producer, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) remained at No. 3 and MediaTek Inc. moved up one place to No. 9, reports said Friday (Aug. 20).
The rankings were based on semiconductor sales during the second quarter of 2021, as reported by IC Insights, a market research company specializing in the semiconductor sector.
Overall sales by the top-10 companies jumped 10% compared to the first quarter of the year, the report said. The total reached US$95.5 billion (NT$2.67 trillion), with Samsung accounting for US$20.29 billion and Intel for US$19.3 billion.
TSMC, which IC Insights described as the only pure-play foundry in the top-10, racked up sales of US$13.31 billion in the second quarter. MediaTek recorded sales totaling US$4.49 billion, an increase of 17% from the first quarter.
Samsung’s lead over Intel was slated to widen, IC Insights said, with sales for the current third quarter expected to increase by another 10% to reach US$22.3 billion. Demand for memory chips was seen as the main factor in the South Korean company’s rise to the top for the first time in three years.
