Three pure-play foundries, TSMC, GlobalFoundries and UMC, are expected to be in the top 20 rankings of leading semiconductor suppliers in 2012, according to IC Insights.

In the rankings, Intel is projected to remain in first place in terms of sales in 2012, followed in order by Samsung, TSMC, Qualcomm, TI, Toshiba, Renesas, SK Hynix, Micron, and ST.

The only expected movement with regard to the top 5 spots in the 2012 ranking is that fabless supplier Qualcomm is forecast to register a 30% surge in sales this year and move up three positions to replace TI as the fourth largest semiconductor supplier, according to the firm.

As a result of its performance this year, GlobalFoundries is forecast to replace Elpida and move into the top 20 ranking for the first time, rising from the 21st spot in 2011 to 15th place in 2012, according to the firm. UMC will remain in 20th place. Sales from pure-play foundry GlobalFoundries are forecast to jump by 31% while foundry giant TSMC is expected to show a 17% increase this year, according to IC Insights.

Combined, these three foundries are forecast to log a 16% increase in 2012/2011 sales, quite impressive considering the expected 2% decline in the worldwide semiconductor market this year, according to the firm.

The continued success of the fabless/foundry business model is evident when examining the top 20 semiconductor suppliers ranked by growth rate. The top five performers are expected to include three fabless companies, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Broadcom, and two pure-play foundries, GlobalFoundries and TSMC, according to the firm.

Illustrating the difficult year faced by the majority of the top 20 semiconductor suppliers, 12 of the top 20 ranked companies are forecast to register a sales decline this year, including 7 of the top 10 largest semiconductor suppliers in the world (#1 Intel, #2 Samsung, #4 TI, #6 Toshiba, #7 Renesas, #8 SK Hynix, and #10 ST).

Tags: Broadcom, GlobalFoundires, Intel, Micron, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Renesas, SK Hynix, ST, Ti, Toshiba, TSMC, UMC

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2012 at 7:43 am and is filed under Industry Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.