Encyclopedia

The semiconductor industry is the aggregate collection of companies engaged in the design

Electronic design automation

Electronic design automation is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits...

 and fabrication of semiconductor

Semiconductor

A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...

 devices. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconductors became a viable business. It has since grown to be the $249 billion dollar industry it is today.

Industry structure

The global semiconductor industry is dominated by USA, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and European Union.
The U.S. industry faces challenges to development by some forms of government regulation. The U.S. government regulates exports and certain uses of some types of semiconductors due to their potential dual use in military applications.

Based on KPMG report it was a $304 billion market in 2010.

24.3%

60.8%

26.8%

34.1%

129.8%

69.3%

20.9%

106.2%

12.3%

74.2%

Rank 2010	Rank 2009	Company	Country of origin	Revenue (million $ USD United States dollar The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies.... )	2010/2009 changes	Market share
1	1	Intel Corporation Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...	USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	40 020
13.2%
2	2	Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics is a South Korean multinational electronics and information technology company headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul...	South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...	28 137
9.3%
3	3	Toshiba Toshiba is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...  Semiconductors	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	13 081
4.3%
4	4	Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...	USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	12 966
4.3%
5	9	Renesas Electronics Renesas Electronics is a Japanese semiconductor manufacturer. It is based in Tokyo and has manufacturing, design and sales operations in around 20 countries. Renesas is one of the world's largest manufacturers of semiconductor systems for mobile phones and automotive applications. It is the world's largest...  (1)	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	11 840
3.9%
6	7	Hynix Hynix Hynix Semiconductor Inc. chips and flash memory chips. Founded in 1983, Hynix is the world's second-largest memory chipmaker, the largest being Samsung Electronics. Formerly known as Hyundai Electronics, the company has manufacturing sites in Korea, the U.S., China and Taiwan...	South Korea South Korea The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...	10 577
3.5%
7	5	STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics is an Italian-French electronics and semiconductor manufacturer headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.While STMicroelectronics corporate headquarters and the headquarters for EMEA region are based in Geneva, the holding company, STMicroelectronics N.V. is registered in Amsterdam,...	France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...  Italy Italy Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...	10 290
3.4%
8	13	Micron Technology Micron Technology Micron Technology, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Boise, Idaho, USA, best known for producing many forms of semiconductor devices. This includes DRAM, SDRAM, flash memory, SSD and CMOS image sensing chips. Consumers may be more familiar with its consumer brand Crucial...  (2)	USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	8 853
2.9%
9	6	Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm is an American global telecommunication corporation that designs, manufactures and markets digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its code division multiple access technology and other technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, USA...	USA United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	7 200
2.4%
10	15	Elpida Memory Elpida Memory is a corporation established in 1999 that develops, designs, manufactures and sells dynamic random-access memory products. It is also a semiconductor foundry. With headquarters in Yaesu, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, it was formed under the name NEC Hitachi Memory in 1999 by the merger of the Hitachi, Ltd....	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	6 678
2.3%

Source : iSuppli Corporation supplied rankings for 2010 (Semiconductor foundries are excluded)

Features

• The role of the industry as technology enabler. The semiconductor industry is widely recognized as a key driver for economic growth in its role as a multiple lever and technology enabler for the whole electronics value chain. In other words, from a worldwide base semiconductor market of $213 billion in 2004, the industry enables the generation of some $1,200 billion in electronic systems business and $5,000 billion in services, representing close to 10% of world GDP.
• Continuous growth but in a cyclical pattern with high volatility. While the current 20 year annual average growth of the semiconductor industry is on the order of 13%, this has been accompanied by equally above-average market volatility, which can lead to significant if not dramatic cyclical swings.
• The need for high degrees of flexibility and innovation in order to constantly adjust to the rapid pace of change in the market. Many products embedding semiconductor devices often have a very short life cycle. At the same time, the rate of constant price-performance improvement in the semiconductor industry is staggering. As a consequence, changes in the semiconductor market not only occur extremely rapidly but also anticipate changes in industries evolving at a slower pace. Yet another consequence of this rapid pace is that established market strongholds can be displaced very quickly.

See also

• Semiconductor sales leaders by year
• Semiconductor device fabrication
• Electronic design automation
  Electronic design automation
  Electronic design automation is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits...
  
  
• Semiconductor consolidation
  Semiconductor Consolidation
  Semiconductor consolidation is the recent trend of semiconductor companies collaborating in order to come to a practical synergy with the goal of being able to operate in a business model that can sustain profitability.-History:...