Q3 Global Semiconductor Market Reaches USD 150 billion, Samsung Ranks 1st

The global semiconductor market surpassed USD 150 billion in the third quarter of this year. Samsung Electronics topped the market, beating the US Intel.

According to related industries on the 10th, market research firm Omdia said in its recent report that global semiconductor market sales in the third quarter of 2021 reached USD 153.2 billion (about 180.406 trillion won). This is an increase of 7.6 per cent from the previous quarter.

Omdia explained that third-quarter sales were led by seasonal demand, strong memory sales, and chip shortages. However, the growth rate was slightly less than the annual average of 7.9 per cent from 2002 to last year.

In the third quarter, the global semiconductor market was led by strong sales of memory products such as DRAM and NAND flash. The memory market grew 12 per cent from the previous quarter.

In particular, the NAND flash market significantly expanded. NAND sales in the third quarter amounted to USD 18.7 billion, up 13.8 per cent from USD 16.4 billion in the second quarter.

Omdia said, “The sales of display driver (DDI, 13 per cent |) and image sensor (17 per cent |) products also significantly increased, but the memory market is about five times larger in terms of size.”

For the market share of the top 10 companies in the global semiconductor market, Samsung Electronics overtook Intel and topped with USD 20.958 billion (about 24.6361 trillion won) in sales, up 13.0 per cent from the previous quarter.

SK Hynix, the major Korean chip manufacture along with Samsung Electronics, also ranked third with sales of USD 9.976 billion (about 11.7267 trillion won), up 10.8 per cent from the previous quarter.

On the other hand, sales of Intel’s flagship microprocessor unit (MPU) remained almost unchanged, down 1.8 per cent from the previous quarter to USD 18.786 billion.

According to TrendForce, a Taiwanese market research firm, Samsung Electronics topped the DRAM and NAND markets in the third quarter with 44.0 per cent and 34.5 per cent market shares, respectively.

However, Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor foundry market share remained at 17.1 per cent, ranking second after Taiwan’s TSMC (53.1 per cent).

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