Foundries take win, place, and show in H1 semiconductor company growth race

August 2, 2012 — IC Insights released a Q2 update to its top-20 ranking of semiconductor companies. Three pure-play foundries are in the top 20 ranking, with a cumulative increase of 20% from Q1 2012 to Q2 2012.

As fabless companies continue to thrive, and many integrated device manufactures (IDMs) move to a fab-lite business model, IC foundries will continue to see strong demand over the next few years. 

TSMC’s capacity utilization rate in 2Q12 was 102% (exceeding 100% because of the way the company defines its utilization rate).

GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 2Q12 sales jumped by 18%, which helped move the company past UMC to become the second-largest foundry in the world. GlobalFoundries is ranked as the 16th largest semiconductor supplier worldwide. IC Insights believes the company has a good chance of surpassing Fujitsu in the rankings in full-year 2012 sales.

Table 1. H1 2012 top 20 semiconductor companies, by sales (including foundries). Revenue in $M. SOURCE: IC Insights.

H1 2012 rank

2011 rank

Company

HQ

2011 total semiconductor sales

Q1 2012 semi sales

Q2 2012 semi sales

H1 2012 semi sales

Q2/
Q1 % change

1

1

Intel

US

49697

11874

12422

24296

5

2

2

Samsung

South Korea

33483

7067

7484

14551

6

3

3

TSMC

Taiwan

14600

3568

4337

7905

22

4

4

TI

US

12900

2934

3135

6069

7

5

7

Qualcomm

US

9828

3059

2869

5928

-6

6

5

Toshiba

Japan

12745

3232

2382

5614

-26

7

6

Renesas

Japan

10653

2344

2099

4443

-10

8

9

SK Hynix

South Korea

9403

2115

2291

4406

8

9

10

Micron

US

8571

2102

2210

4312

5

10

8

ST

Europe

9631

1997

2126

4123

6

11

11

Broadcom

US

7160

1770

1917

3687

8

12

13

Sony

Japan

6093

1514

1560

3074

3

13

12

AMD

US

6568

1585

1413

2998

-11

14

14

Infineon

Europe

5599

1292

1272

2564

-2

15

15

Fujitsu

Japan

4430

1216

931

2147

-23

16

21

GLOBAL
FOUNDRIES

US

3480

945

1115

2060

18

17

17

NXP

Europe

4147

969

1084

2053

12

18

18

Nvidia

US

3939

935

990

1925

6

19

16

Freescale

US

4391

912

988

1900

8

20

20

UMC

Taiwan

3760

834

970

1804

16

Top 20 Total

221078

52264

53595

105859

3

 

The combined sales of the 4 Japanese companies in the top 20 ranking (Toshiba, Renesas, Sony, and Fujitsu) dropped 16% sequentially, with Sony being the only Japanese company to register quarterly growth. This region may see a boost in Q3.

Renesas is currently expecting a sequential semiconductor sales increase of 24% in Q3.

Toshiba has not yet changed its relatively aggressive full-year fiscal 2013 (ending March 2013) guidance, which suggests it may be expecting a strong rebound in sales later this year.  

When Micron (#9) completes its acquisition of bankrupt Elpida (#24), the memory maker likely will add $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion in revenue annually. This could bump Micron up in the rankings by as many as 2 slots.

There was a wide range of sequential quarterly growth rates among the top 20 semiconductor suppliers. In total, the top 20 semiconductor suppliers showed a 3% increase in Q2 sales over Q1. The entire worldwide semiconductor industry growth rate was 6%. When excluding the top three foundries — TSMC, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, and UMC — combined sales of the top companies logged an increase of only 1% sequentially.

Table 2. H1 2012 top 20 semiconductor sales leaders ranked by growth rate (including foundries. Revenues in $M. SOURCE: IC Insights.

H1 2012 rank

Company

HQ

2011 total semiconductor sales

Q1 2012 semi sales

Q2 2012 semi sales

H1 2012 semi sales

Q2/
Q1 % change

1

TSMC

Taiwan

14600

3568

4337

7905

22

2

GLOBAL
FOUNDRIES

US

3480

945

1115

2060

18

3

UMC

Taiwan

3760

834

970

1804

16

4

NXP

Europe

4147

969

1084

2053

12

5

Freescale

US

4391

912

988

1900

8

6

SK Hynix

South Korea

9403

2115

2291

4406

8

7

Broadcom

US

7160

1770

1917

3687

8

8

TI

US

12900

2934

3135

6069

7

9

ST

Europe

9631

1997

2126

4123

6

10

Samsung

South Korea

33483

7067

7484

14551

6

11

Nvidia

US

3939

935

990

1925

6

12

Micron

US

8571

2102

2210

4312

5

13

Intel

US

49697

11874

12422

24296

5

14

Sony

Japan

6093

1514

1560

3074

3

15

Infineon

Europe

5599

1292

1272

2564

-2

16

Qualcomm

US

9828

3059

2869

5928

-6

17

Renesas

Japan

10653

2344

2099

4443

-10

18

AMD

US

6568

1585

1413

2998

-11

19

Fujitsu

Japan

4430

1216

931

2147

-23

20

Toshiba

Japan

12745

3232

2382

5614

-26

As shown, Toshiba ranked as the worst performing top-20 company in 2Q12, registering a steep 26% 2Q12/1Q12 sales decline.  This drop was due almost entirely to the poor performance of its memory segment (primarily NAND flash), which saw a dramatic 40% 2Q12/1Q12 sales collapse (a decline of about $800 million).  As has been recently reported, the company plans to cut its NAND flash production by 30% in response to this situation.  In contrast to its memory sales, Toshiba’s 2Q12/1Q12 logic IC sales were down only 9% and its O-S-D (optoelectronics, sensors, and discretes) sales were flat.  It is interesting to note that SanDisk, Toshiba’s NAND flash memory partner, encountered a much more moderate 2Q12/1Q12 sales decline of 14%.

After reviewing the top 20 companies’ 3Q12 outlooks, it appears that the top 20 semiconductor suppliers, in total, are likely to show a 5% increase in sales in 3Q12 as compared with 2Q12.  While this level of growth is not very exciting, it is only one point below the past 30-year average third quarter total semiconductor market increase of 6%.

Several major product introductions are set to occur in 4Q12 that could potentially bring additional momentum to the semiconductor market at the end of this year.  The release of Apple’s newest version of its iPhone (iPhone 5) is expected no later than October.  Moreover, Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system is the first major upgrade to its OS in several years and is scheduled to be released in 4Q12.  Also, Intel reports that numerous new ultra-thin but powerful Ultrabook computers will debut in 4Q12, some priced as low as $699. In total, IC Insights expects a 4Q12/3Q12 semiconductor sales increase of 2% and a full-year 2012 semiconductor market increase of 3%.

A ranking of the 1H12 top semiconductor suppliers will be included as part of IC Insights’ upcoming August Update to The McClean Report. IC Insights has released the new 200+ page Mid-Year Update to the 2012 edition of The McClean Report. To review additional information about IC Insights’ new and existing market research products and services please visit our website: www.icinsights.com.

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