Intel Dominated 2003 Chip Market; Motorola Falls

Intel Corp. easily maintained its position as the top semiconductor supplier in the world in 2003, holding a market share roughly 2.5 times larger than its nearest competitor.

However, market data published Thursday by Semico Research Corp., of Phoenix, found that several of the top 10 chip suppliers of 2003 lost market share, as startups and other smaller companies began to move up the ladder. Only three – Samsung Electronics, Texas Instruments and Infineon Technologies – actually increased their market share compared to 2002, Semico found.

Intel topped second-place Samsung easily, capturing 16.2 percent of the market on $26.2 billion in annual revenue. Intel slipped slightly, however, as its market share fell from 16.8 percent in 2002. Samsungs share increased from 5.6 percent to 5.8 percent, while TIs share also climbed from 4.7 percent to 4.9 percent. Renesas, the merger of Hitachis and Mitsubishis non-DRAM businesses, saw its share slip to 4.8 percent from 5.3 percent in 2002.

Analyst firms have begun to track a resurgence in the technology industry that began to increase late in 2003 and into 2004. The Semiconductor Industry Association said earlier this week that January chip sales were up almost 27 percent from a year ago. The growth seemed to benefit smaller companies, especially, as the “other” category – those companies outside of the top 30 – jumped sharply, Semico analyst Adrienne Downey said.

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