Global semiconductor sales fell 10.5% in 2009, despite quarter-on-quarter increases from 2Q onwards.
Gartner reports total revenues of $228.4 billion (€168.9 billion) in 2009 were down $26.8 billion on 2008, but says better-than-expected sales during 2H09 have positioned the market for a potential return to growth in 2010.
“After an unprecedented decline in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, sequential quarterly revenue growth for the industry overall was very strong in the last three quarters of 2009,” Gartner principal research analyst Peter Middleton said.
“As a result, 2009 performance overall was much milder than initially feared in the aftermath of the financial crisis.”
Intel maintained the top spot with $33.3 billion worth of semiconductor sales, but its share of the market slumped 4.5% to 14.6%.
Second-placed Samsung was one of the few chipmakers to see a revenue increase in 2009, helping to boost its market share 1.7% to 7.7%. Eight of the remaining ten companies in the top 10 saw their respective shares decline.
Toshiba took third place in the rankings, followed by TI, STMicro and Qualcomm. Next was Hynix, Renesas, AMD and then Infineon.