According to Gartner, the semiconductor sector will continue to grow in 2021.
Although the current worldwide chip shortage has been well publicised, it did not prevent the world’s leading semiconductor businesses from enjoying a prosperous year in 2021.
Gartner forecasts that global semiconductor sales will reach $595 billion in 2021, up 26.3 percent year-over-year, with Samsung and Intel leading the way.
While the chip shortage continues to affect original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), strong demand for 5G smartphones and logistics/raw material price increases drove semiconductor average selling prices (ASPs) higher, which contributed to significant revenue growth in 2021, Gartner’s Andrew Norwood said in a statement on Thursday.
Making a comeback
Gartner says that the resurgence of the automative and industrial sectors after their epidemic lows boosted total demand, notwithstanding the supply limitations.
With a 34.9 percent annual growth rate, the automotive sector in particular outperformed the rest of the economy. Wireless communications, which are vital for cellphones, surged by 24.6 percent.
The iPhone 13, Samsung Galaxy S22, and other products are driving up demand for 5G smartphones, which is expected to reach 556 million units in 2021, up from 251 million units in 2020.
There was $41.3 billion in revenue from semiconductor memory sales, which was led by DRAM.
Samsung and Intel are leading the way in terms of innovation.
Two household brands dominated the semiconductor business in terms of individual company performance: Samsung and Intel.
In 2021, Samsung’s semiconductor and associated sales brought in a whopping $73.1 billion in revenue, a 28 percent increase from $57 billion in 2020 and a 12.3 percent share of the market.
Intel, with a 12.2 percent market share, reported sales of $72.5 billion, a decrease of 0.3 percent from $72.8 billion in 2020. First and second place were exchanged.
A total market share of 6.1% was held by SK Hynix ($36 billion, up 40.6% YoY), followed by Micron ($28.6 percent, up 31.4 percent YoY), Qualcomm ($27 billion, up 53.4% YoY), and Broadcom ($18.7 billion, up 19.3% YoY), all of which grew significantly year over year to take the fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh and eighth and tenth places, respectively.
There are a total of three companies on the list, all with around a 3% share of the market: Texas Instruments ($17 billion), Nvidia ($16.6 billion), and AMD ($16.3 billion).
As a consequence of US sanctions, Huawei’s HiSilicon saw revenues fall by 81% from $8.2 billion to only $1.5 billion, according to a report by Gartner.