The semiconductor revenue increased 21.6 percent to $420.4 billion in 2017 — driven by 61.8 percent growth in the memory market that assisted Samsung in beating Intel for top position, according to Gartner.
The first important milestone in the global semiconductor industry was the crossing of the $400 billion revenue mark.
The second important development was the replacement of Intel, the number one global semiconductor company for the last 25 years, by Samsung.
“Both milestones happened due to rapid growth in the memory market as undersupply drove pricing for DRAM and NAND flash higher,” said George Brocklehurst, research director at Gartner.
The memory market surged 61.8 percent to $130 billion in 2017. Samsung’s memory revenue alone increased nearly $20 billion in 2017, moving the company into the top spot in 2017. Gartner predicts that Samsung’s lead in the global semiconductor market will be short-lived and will disappear when the memory market goes into its bust cycle, most likely in late 2019.
Non-memory semiconductors grew 9.3 percent to $290 billion.
Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics and Infineon, have experienced high growth as two key markets, industrial and automotive, achieved double-digit growth.
Growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) is having a significant impact on the semiconductor market, with application-specific standard products(ASSPs) for consumer applications up by 14.3 percent and industrial ASSPs rising by 19.1 percent in 2017.
Semiconductors for wireless connectivity showed the highest growth with 19.3 percent in 2017, and topping $10 billion for the first time, despite reduced component prices and the static smartphone industry.
