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Samsung beats Intel to reclaim #1 position in semiconductor industry

Daniel Nenni

Admin
Staff member
The latest Gartner report has indicated the size of the global semiconductor revenue and the share of semiconductor vendors in 2024.

Samsung vs Intel in semiconductor market 2024


Samsung vs Intel in semiconductor market 2024


Revenue of the global semiconductor industry has increased 18.1 percent to $626 billion in 2024. Semiconductor revenue will be reaching an estimated $705 billion in 2025.

The surge in semiconductor revenue was largely driven by the demand for graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI processors utilized in data center applications, including servers and accelerator cards.

George Brocklehurst, VP Analyst at Gartner, highlighted that the growing need for AI and generative AI (GenAI) workloads propelled data centers to become the second-largest market for semiconductors in 2024, second only to smartphones. Data center semiconductor revenue totaled $112 billion in 2024, a significant increase from $64.8 billion in 2023.

The strong market performance influenced the rankings of various semiconductor vendors, with eleven companies achieving double-digit growth. Eight of the top 25 semiconductor vendors experienced a decline in revenue during 2024.

Samsung Electronics reclaimed its position as the No. 1 semiconductor vendor in 2024, overtaking Intel. This achievement was primarily due to a strong rebound in memory device prices, leading to a revenue total of $66.5 billion for Samsung.

Intel, now ranked second, struggled with limited success in AI accelerators and modest growth in its x86 business. Despite this, Intel’s semiconductor revenue remained stable with a marginal growth of 0.1 percent in 2024.

Nvidia made substantial gains, increasing its semiconductor revenue by 84 percent to reach $46 billion, moving up two positions to claim the No. 3 spot, largely due to the strength of its AI business.

According to Gartner’s rankings for the top 10 semiconductor vendors by revenue in 2024, Samsung Electronics led with a 10.6 percent market share, followed by Intel with 7.9 percent and Nvidia with 7.3 percent.

SK hynix also saw impressive growth, climbing to fourth place with an 86 percent revenue increase. Other notable vendors included Qualcomm, Micron Technology, Broadcom, AMD, Apple, and Infineon Technologies, with most companies showing positive revenue growth except for Infineon Technologies, which saw a decline of 6.0 percent.

The memory segment played a crucial role in the semiconductor market’s expansion, recording a 71.8 percent increase in revenue for 2024. Memory devices accounted for 25.2 percent of the total semiconductor market share, with DRAM revenue growing by 75.4 percent and NAND revenue increasing by 75.7 percent year-over-year. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) was a major contributor to DRAM revenue, representing 13.6 percent of total DRAM sales in 2024.

Nonmemory semiconductor revenue also experienced growth, increasing by 6.9 percent in 2024 and accounting for 74.8 percent of the total semiconductor market. Analysts predict that memory and AI-driven semiconductors will continue to be key drivers of growth. HBM, in particular, is expected to represent 19.2 percent of DRAM revenue by 2025, with projected revenue reaching $19.8 billion, reflecting a 66.3 percent increase from the previous year.

 
The latest Gartner report has indicated the size of the global semiconductor revenue and the share of semiconductor vendors in 2024.

Samsung vs Intel in semiconductor market 2024


Samsung vs Intel in semiconductor market 2024


Revenue of the global semiconductor industry has increased 18.1 percent to $626 billion in 2024. Semiconductor revenue will be reaching an estimated $705 billion in 2025.

The surge in semiconductor revenue was largely driven by the demand for graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI processors utilized in data center applications, including servers and accelerator cards.

George Brocklehurst, VP Analyst at Gartner, highlighted that the growing need for AI and generative AI (GenAI) workloads propelled data centers to become the second-largest market for semiconductors in 2024, second only to smartphones. Data center semiconductor revenue totaled $112 billion in 2024, a significant increase from $64.8 billion in 2023.

The strong market performance influenced the rankings of various semiconductor vendors, with eleven companies achieving double-digit growth. Eight of the top 25 semiconductor vendors experienced a decline in revenue during 2024.

Samsung Electronics reclaimed its position as the No. 1 semiconductor vendor in 2024, overtaking Intel. This achievement was primarily due to a strong rebound in memory device prices, leading to a revenue total of $66.5 billion for Samsung.

Intel, now ranked second, struggled with limited success in AI accelerators and modest growth in its x86 business. Despite this, Intel’s semiconductor revenue remained stable with a marginal growth of 0.1 percent in 2024.

Nvidia made substantial gains, increasing its semiconductor revenue by 84 percent to reach $46 billion, moving up two positions to claim the No. 3 spot, largely due to the strength of its AI business.

According to Gartner’s rankings for the top 10 semiconductor vendors by revenue in 2024, Samsung Electronics led with a 10.6 percent market share, followed by Intel with 7.9 percent and Nvidia with 7.3 percent.

SK hynix also saw impressive growth, climbing to fourth place with an 86 percent revenue increase. Other notable vendors included Qualcomm, Micron Technology, Broadcom, AMD, Apple, and Infineon Technologies, with most companies showing positive revenue growth except for Infineon Technologies, which saw a decline of 6.0 percent.

The memory segment played a crucial role in the semiconductor market’s expansion, recording a 71.8 percent increase in revenue for 2024. Memory devices accounted for 25.2 percent of the total semiconductor market share, with DRAM revenue growing by 75.4 percent and NAND revenue increasing by 75.7 percent year-over-year. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) was a major contributor to DRAM revenue, representing 13.6 percent of total DRAM sales in 2024.

Nonmemory semiconductor revenue also experienced growth, increasing by 6.9 percent in 2024 and accounting for 74.8 percent of the total semiconductor market. Analysts predict that memory and AI-driven semiconductors will continue to be key drivers of growth. HBM, in particular, is expected to represent 19.2 percent of DRAM revenue by 2025, with projected revenue reaching $19.8 billion, reflecting a 66.3 percent increase from the previous year.



I think the number for Nvidia 2024 revenue is wrong.

Nvidia's fiscal year runs from February to January, and is labeled according to the calendar year it ends in. For example, Nvidia's fiscal year 2025 began in February 2024 and ends in January 2025. To compare the Samsung or Intel calendar year 2024 revenue, we should look more into the Nvidia fiscal 2025 revenue then do some adjustments.

The Nvidia 2024 revenue of $45.988 billion listed in the table is probably more or less its calendar 2023 revenue. NVIDIA's trailing 12 month (TTM) revenue was $113.27 billion as of October 27, 2024.
 
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Wow. So all the growth came from nVidia plus the 3 big DRAM companies. Nothing between Samsung's 62% growth and Qualcomm's 11%.

I don't think I've ever seen such a concentrated and uneven distribution of growth. Gut instinct says this is very unstable.
 
This is a silly ranking when they exclude the guys making the chips as Foudnry and include the IDMs that are foundry pretenders
Wow. So all the growth came from nVidia plus the 3 big DRAM companies. Nothing between Samsung's 62% growth and Qualcomm's 11%.

I don't think I've ever seen such a concentrated and uneven distribution of growth. Gut instinct says this is very unstable.
In addition to the problem I pointed out above that Nvidia's 2024 revenue is wrong. I have more questions on this rankings.

It's a mixed bag of analysis, making it difficult to determine its relevance or accuracy.

For example, Gartner likely applied a percentage, say 20%, of TSMC's revenue ($90 billion for 2024) to estimate Apple's semiconductor revenue, $18 billion. Since Apple uses these chips exclusively for its own products and doesn't sell them to other companies, this essentially represents an estimate of Apple's semiconductor inventory cost/value rather than revenue.

On the other hand, Samsung, AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm, and Micron's listed numbers in the table represent actual revenue with some adjustments. How can Gartner compare Apple's "inventory" value against other companies' "revenue" and then create a meaningful ranking? This ranking system doesn't make sense.

Furthermore, Apple's semiconductor inventory likely includes components from sources other than TSMC, such as other foundries and OSAT vendors. Did Gartner factor those into the calculation?

Samsung's semiconductor revenue number ($66.524 billion) from the table also raises questions.

Samsung's semiconductor division (DS) has three major sub-divisions: memory (producing memory for internal and external customers), SLSI (designing and selling logic products to internal and external customers), and foundry (manufacturing semiconductors for internal and external customers).

Samsung's DS division's 2024 revenue is approximately $76 billion ($58 billion for memory and $18 billion for SLSI and foundry combined). This is a complex mix of business segments for internal and external customers, and I doubt Gartner can accurately produce a meaningful figure.
 
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For example, Gartner likely applied a percentage, say 20%, of TSMC's revenue ($90 billion for 2024) to estimate Apple's semiconductor revenue, $18 billion. Since Apple uses these chips exclusively for its own products and doesn't sell them to other companies, this essentially represents an estimate of Apple's semiconductor inventory value rather than revenue.

On the other hand, Samsung, AMD, Nvidia, Intel, Qualcomm, and Micron's listed numbers in the table represent actual revenue with some adjustments. How can Gartner compare Apple's "inventory" value against other companies' "revenue" and then create a meaningful ranking? This ranking system doesn't make sense.

Furthermore, Apple's semiconductor inventory likely includes components from sources other than TSMC, such as other foundries and OSAT vendors. Did Gartner factor those into the calculation?
Wasn't aware that Apple was a "semiconductor vendor". They are certainly the exception on this list (credited for custom chip orders). Are Meta, Amazon, or Microsoft included on this list for their custom datacenter chips? Is Alphabet on this list too because they sell phones with custom chips? Seems kind of hand-wavy. Ignoring pure-play foundries is an interesting approach when IDM top-line revenue is included.

Is Intel's 2024 revenue off? Didn't Intel just report $53.1B for 2024 revenue (vs. the $49.2B listed)?

Wow. So all the growth came from nVidia plus the 3 big DRAM companies. Nothing between Samsung's 62% growth and Qualcomm's 11%.

I don't think I've ever seen such a concentrated and uneven distribution of growth. Gut instinct says this is very unstable.
If you look at last year's report, Samsung and SK Hynix had some of the largest % drops for 2023. Call it cyclical, making up lost ground, or whatever. Definitely not sustainable growth.
 
Wasn't aware that Apple was a "semiconductor vendor". They are certainly the exception on this list (credited for custom chip orders). Are Meta, Amazon, or Microsoft included on this list for their custom datacenter chips? Is Alphabet on this list too because they sell phones with custom chips? Seems kind of hand-wavy. Ignoring pure-play foundries is an interesting approach when IDM top-line revenue is included.

Is Intel's 2024 revenue off? Didn't Intel just report $53.1B for 2024 revenue (vs. the $49.2B listed)?


If you look at last year's report, Samsung and SK Hynix had some of the largest % drops for 2023. Call it cyclical, making up lost ground, or whatever. Definitely not sustainable growth.


I don't think it's possible to find out a meaningful value on the chips designed in-house but manufactured by TSMC from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Tesla. Just like Apple, they don't sell the chips to external customers, except processors for Google smartphones.

It is wrong if Gartner did not include them. But it's also wrong if Gartner did include them because it doesn't make sense to use the inventory value to compare against other companies' revenue. They should not be compared in the same ranking table with AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, or Nvidia.
 
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