Intel grows its lead as No. 1 chip vendor
Intel continues to be the No. 1 semiconductor vendor by revenue for the 20th consecutive years in 2011 during which it achieves its highest-ever market share, according to a Gartner report.
| Rank | Vendor | Market share (percent) |
| 1 | Intel | 16.5 |
| 2 | Samsung Electronics | 8.9 |
| 3 | Toshiba | 3.8 |
| 4 | Texas Instruments | 3.8 |
| 5 | Renesas Electronics | 3.5 |
| 6 | Qualcomm | 3.3 |
| 7 | STMicroelectronics | 3.1 |
| 8 | Hynix Semiconductor | 3.1 |
| 9 | Micron Technology | 2.5 |
| 10 | Broadcom | 2.3 |
In a statement Tuesday, Gartner said Intel saw a "record" revenue gain of 20.7 percent in 2011, bringing its revenue up from US$42 billion in 2010 to US$50.7 billion. Last year also saw the vendor chalk up its highest-ever market share at 16.5 percent, said the report, adding that its previous top market share was in 1998 when it had 16.3 percent share.
Samsung retained its position as the second largest vendor with 1 percent revenue gain in 2011 to reach US$27.4 billion. Gartner attributed the weakness in the DRAM market as the reason the Korean conglomerate was unable to narrow the gap with Intel.
Toshiba and Texas Instruments remained at the third and fouth positions in 2011. The Japanese company saw a 4.8 percent dip in revenue to reach US$11.4 billion while the U.S. firm saw a 0.6 percent decrease in revenue with US$11.8 billion revenue.
At US$10.2 billion in revenue, Renesas Electronics rose from the sixth position in 2010 to become the fifth largest semiconductor vendor in 2011. The company was a merger between NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology and began its operations in Apr. 1, 2010.
Qualcomm jumped from the ninth position in 2010 to the sixth with a 39 percent jump in revenue to reach US$10.2 billion. With its increase share in the smartphone market, Qualcomm was noted as one of the fastest-growing semiconductor company in 2011, according to Gartner.
The research firm added that the revenues of the top 25 semiconductor vendors accounted for a larger portion of the industry's total revenue in 2011 at 69.2 percent, compared with 68.3 percent in 2010. However, about half of this growth was the result of mergers and acquisitions, it added.