14 DAY TRIAL // While Intel and AMD are still the two major rivals on the CPU market, things are vastly different on the overall chip market, where Samsung is actually the holder of the second place as worldwide supplier.
The semiconductor market includes multiple segments, such as the CPU, the DRAM, the NAND and that of other application processors.
For many years, Intel has been in the lead not just as far as the CPU segment goes, but on the chip industry as a whole.
This year, this situation has not changed, but the company did seem to lose a small part of its share, mainly to the runner-up.
Said runner up is, as already mentioned, Samsung electronics, which, as Gartner has it, secured a share of 9.4%, while Intel's was of 13.8%.
This performance marks Intel's 19th consecutive year in the lead and was owed to the strong performance during the first half of the year, though the second half proved less stellar, especially in terms of notebook sales.
"In 2010, the semiconductor market was driven by pent-up demand as system makers scrambled against depleted inventories to obtain parts," said Stephan Ohr, semiconductor research director at Gartner.
"Manufacturers, both IDMs and foundries, scrambled to put new capacity in place. With slowing demand and a weakening consumer confidence in the third quarter, lead times are coming down and inventories are slowly starting to build,” Ohr added.
“Still, semiconductor vendors are working on fulfilling backlog orders, and 2010 will go on record as a banner year for the semiconductor industry." he concluded.
For those seeking numbers, Intel's sales were of $41,43 billion (up 24.6% on year), while Samsung's were of $28.26 billion (up 59.8% over 2009).
The third and fourth places were grabbed by Toshiba and Texas instruments, while fifth place went to Renesas Electronics, now owner of NEC Electronics.