The booming smartphone market has led manufacturers of DRAM and NAND flash semiconductors to see sales leap by more than a quarter, as handset makers demand more memory.
According to the latest figures from IHS, the global semiconductor market saw sales increase by five percent to €230 billion, reversing the 2.4 percent decline during the previous 12 months.
Dale Ford, Vice President at IHS Technology, said: “Memory Integrated Circuits were the key drivers of growth in the semiconductor industry in 2013. Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) showed the strongest expansion among major memory segments, with revenue surging by 32.5 percent as suppliers were able to achieve a balance between supply and demand that yielded lucrative pricing for parts. NAND flash also posted a strong year—at 24.2 percent growth—as demand for the memory from smartphones and tablets continued to rise.”
IHS said the demands for greater memory led to suppliers jumping up the semiconductor rankings. Micron leaped from number 10 to number four, thanks to sales growth of 108.5 percent, which was driven by organic growth and the acquisition of Elpida Memory.
SK Hynix moved from seven to five on organic growth of 30.6 percent. Qualcomm stayed at number three, with growth of 30.6 percent, while Mediatek took the number 14 slot, thanks to a 36.1 percent growth in sales.
NXP (13.7 percent growth), Avago Technologies (9.2 percent) and Xilinx (4.6 percent) also were standout performers. By contrast, it was Japanese chipmakers that saw the biggest drops in sales.
Intel continued to lead the semiconductor market, with sales of €34 billion and a market share of 14.8 percent. Samsung was in second place with a 10.6 percent share on sales of €22.4 billion.
The report said another standout sector in the market was wireless communication semiconductors, which saw sales increase by 13.1 percent.