ISuppli released its preliminary worldwide semiconductor rankings on Wednesday and the results were pretty much what you'd expect -- well, maybe with one major exception.
We all knew AMD was having a tough time lately, but as a result of Intel's continued dominance in the market -- and some surprise surges from the likes of Sony and Toshiba -- iSuppli expects the Sunnyvale company will be officially banished from the top 10 semiconductor list in '07. This, only a year after it managed to squeeze its way into the exclusive group for the first time.
ISuppli predicts Intel's worldwide semiconductor dominance/market-share will rise another 12.5 percent in 2007 while AMD's will supposedly plummet by 23 percent as its total revenue for the year also declines (from $7.5 to $5.8 billion). All in all, this continued Intel-issued smack down is expected to push the Sunnyvale chipmaker back down to 11th place for the year.
"Throughout most of the year, Intel successfully defended much of the market share that it won from AMD in the first quarter in the PC microprocessor segment due to the success of its lines of dual- and quad-core chips," said iSuppli's Dale Ford in a Wednesday statement. "This represents a major reversal of fortune compared to 2006, when AMD had the advantage with its popular dual-core microprocessors, allowing it to gain share from Intel."
To clarify, iSuppli is predicting the positions of global semiconductor makers, which of course isn't limited to microprocessors. According to the latest survey from Mercury Research, AMD's chips now account for around 19 percent of the total processor market. But while AMD's market share has increased in recent years, the Sunnyvale company has been plagued by falling revenues due in part to the ongoing price wars with its larger rival, Intel. Intel's CPU share currently hovers around 80 percent.
According to the iSuppli report, Samsung will remain the world's second-largest chipmaker with 7.4 percent of the market, while Toshiba will ascend to third place, pushing Texas Instruments to number four. Previously ranked 14th, Sony is expected to assume AMD's former position (number 8) with a 57 percent increase in revenue due to PS3 chip sales. Now if someone would only start buying the damn consoles. Wait, I guess they are.
Photo: Flickr/Semiconductor Films
