Samsung Electronics fell to third place in chip sales in 2023, hampered by a cyclical downturn in memory chip demand.
According to data from global analyst Omdia, the South Korean chipmaker achieved revenue of $44.4 billion in its chip business in 2023, down 33.8% from $67.1 billion of the year before that. The main reason for this decline is because the memory chip industry experiences severe oversupply in 2023.
Previously in 2022, Samsung was again the name at the top of the list with chip sales reaching a record high.
Cliff Leimbach, senior research analyst at Omdia, said: “Samsung, the industry leader in 2022, fell to third place in 2023 as its memory revenue nearly halved compared to with 2021 levels”.
US chipmaker Intel rose to the top spot last year with revenue of $51.2 billion, but that was still 15.8% lower than in 2022.
AI chip “superstar” Nvidia climbed to second place by recording $49.2 billion in chip revenue in 2023, a staggering 133.6% increase over the previous year.
Omdia's report also added that in 2023, despite the general downturn in the semiconductor industry, AI will emerge as a significant growth driver as companies focus on this segment. have derived great benefit from it.
“Nvidia is the clear winner in this segment, more than doubling semiconductor revenue from 2022 to $49 billion in 2023,” analyst Cliff Leimbach emphasized.
Another South Korean chipmaker, SK hynix, a leader in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, is ranked sixth with 2023 annual revenue of $23.7 billion. A year earlier, 2022, they were in fourth place.
According to analysts' opinions, Samsung Electronics' chip division is expected to still struggle in the first quarter of 2024 with profits ranging from 200 billion won ($149 million) to 700 billion won. Samsung Electronics' preliminary earnings will be announced on April 5.
SK hynix turned profitable in the fourth quarter of 2023 thanks to its leadership in the HBM category. To date, the recession cycle is considered to have bottomed out and recovery is expected to begin.
The global chip industry in 2023 generated revenue of $544.8 billion, down 9% from $597.7 billion in 2022. Omdia's latest market tracking data does not include activity contract manufacturing business, which is why Taiwan's TSMC is not in the rankings.
