Worldwide semiconductor revenue totalled $340,3-billion in 2014, a 7,9% increase from 2013 revenue of $315,4-billion, according to final results by Gartner.
The top 25 semiconductor vendors’ combined revenue increased 11,7%, which was more than the overall industry’s growth. The top 25 vendors accounted for 72,4% of total market revenue, up from 69,9% in 2013.
“2014 saw all device categories post positive growth, unlike in 2013, when application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), discretes and microcomponents all declined. The memory market was the best performer for the second year in a row, growing 16,6%, meaning the rest of the market only achieved 4,9% growth,” says Andrew Norwood, research vice-president at Gartner.
“As a group, DRAM vendors performed best, lifted by the booming DRAM market, which saw revenue increase 32% to $46,1-billion, surpassing the all-time high of $41,8-billion set in 1995.”
Intel saw a return to growth after two years of revenue decline, as PC production recovered, with sales up 7,7%. The company retained the No. 1 market share position for the 23rd consecutive year by capturing 15,4% of the market, which was down slightly on the previous year. Samsung Electronics secured second spot with 10,2% market share.
2014 saw significantly more merger and acquisition (M&A) activity among the major semiconductor vendors than the previous year, with some announced deals still to close in 2015. Among the most significant deals was Avago Technologies’ acquisition of LSI, propelling the company into the top 25 semiconductor vendors for the first time.
MStar Semiconductor was merged with MediaTek after a prolonged merger, and ON Semiconductor acquired Aptina Imaging. After adjusting for closed M&A activity, the top 25 semiconductor vendors grew at 9,1%.