Report says Intel, Samsung and SK Hynix were the three biggest semiconductor suppliers in Q1 2020

(Image: Intel.)

According to technology research and consulting firm Omdia (via The Elec), the top seven semiconductor makers in the world in Q1 2020 were Intel, Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, Broadcom, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

While the research firm says that the top 10 players had their revenues grew 2.1% to a total of US$63.6 billion despite the Covid-19 pandemic; delving deeper, you’ll notice that not all manufacturers have made gains. Four of them — Intel, Broadcom, Texas Instruments and NVIDIA — experienced dips in their Q1 2020 revenues compared to the previous quarter.

In fact, the overall growth was a result of the sales jump achieved by HiSilicon, Qualcomm and Kioxia. The Huawei-owned HiSilicon actually saw its revenue grew 40.3% during this period. This was perhaps due to its increased sales to Huawei, which has been trying hard to reduce its reliance on US technology during this US-China trade war; and the fact that HiSilicon has started to sell chips in the open market. This growth propelled HiSilicon from 16th to 8th place in Omdia's ranking.

According to Omdia, Qualcomm’s 14.6% and Kioxia’s 10% growths were due to China’s push in 5G and the high demand for NAND flash memory respectively. Kioxia, for those unaware, is the old Toshiba Memory.

South Korean pair Samsung and Hynix remained in 2nd and 3rd, growing a modest 1.4% and 0.7% respectively.

(Image: The Elec.)