LONDON – Boosted by its acquisition of Sanyo's semiconductor business, On Semiconductor registered a 49 percent sales increase in 2011 and moved into the top 25 chip companies, according to a ranking of companies by 2011 chip sales compiled by market research company IC Insights.
Qualcomm, spurred by a 73 percent increase in smartphone unit shipments last year, logged a 38 percent increase in semiconductor sales in 2011 and although Infineon was considerably smaller than in 2010 due to the sale of its wireless business unit to Intel, its growth from continuing operations was 29 percent, according to IC Insights. Many large memory companies suffered in 2011 with Micron, Hynix and Elpida all shrinking in size and Elpida registering a sales drop of 40 percent in dollar terms and 45 percent in yen, IC Insights (Scottsdale, Arizona) said.
Although 15 of the top 25 chip companies saw their sales diminish in 2011, the top 10 semiconductor suppliers grew 7 percent compared to 2010. Intel, through its Infineon acquisition, extended its lead as number one over Samsung which experienced a low growth of 3 percent.
The big climbers in the rankings were Qualcomm, up three places to seventh place and Nvidia up five spots to 18th due to growth in its graphics and communications processor business. Elpida fell six places from 13th in 2010 to 19th in 2011 as a collapse in the DRAM market put the existence of the company at risk.
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