Samsung has dethroned Intel to become the world’s largest chipmaker

The King is dead, long live the king! Samsung is now the leader of the semiconductor market, having shipped a record $69.1 billion worth of chips throughout 2017, surpassing all competition, including Intel. 

Intel has been the world’s top chipmaker since 1992, giving them 25 years of dominance. This year marked a six percent increase in Intel’s semiconductor revenue, which totalled $62.8 billion, giving Samsung a 10% lead in overall revenue. 

Samsung has capitalised on the growing mobile market and increasing demand from DRAM and flash memory, allowing them to see significant growth over the past few years. Intel meanwhile has remained focused on x86 processors, which have failed to see wide adoption within the mobile market, limiting Intel’s potential growth outside of the traditional consumer PC and enterprise markets. 

High demand for NAND and DRAM in recent years has lead to Samsung’s resounding successes here, allowing them not just to sell more silicon but command higher prices for them. Demand for DRAM dense products has only grown in within the mobile phone market, with mobile phones offering higher DRAM and flash capacities with each generation.