Intel market share surges to 10-year high

Acquisitions helped fuel growth.

Intel last year increased its worldwide semiconductor market share to 15.6 percent, the highest the chip maker has seen in over 10 years, according to a report published Monday by industry analysts IHS iSuppli.

Intel was able to grow the 13.1 percent it held in 2010 thanks primarily to growth within its data centre segment and in emerging markets. Its acquisitions of McAfee and Infineon Wireless, which is now part of Intel’s newly created Mobile Communications Group, also fueled growth, said Intel spokesperson Jon Carvill.

"Our performance last year was driven by two key areas - the continued growth in PCs and the data centre. Each of these respective areas saw a 17 percent revenue increase over 2010 and combined contributed over $US45 billion ($A43 billion) in revenue for 2011," Carvill told CRN.

"The other thing I would also point to is 2011 was really a year of enormous growth for Intel in emerging markets, which now represents two out of every three incremental units of PC demand."

The 15.6 percent market share Intel nabbed last year is the largest it has seen since 2001, when it held 14.9 percent of the market, IHS iSuppli said.

Out of the 25 chip manufacturers ranked, Samsung took the runner up spot with 9.2 percent of the global market, and Texas Instruments followed in third with 4.5 percent. AMD held the eleventh largest share with 2.1 percent.

Intel was also leaps and bounds ahead of its competitors in terms of revenue last year. It ended 2011 with nearly $49 billion, marking a hefty 20.6 percentage increase from the $40 billion it saw it 2010.

This growth outpaced every other chip maker in the top 20 with the exception of Qualcomm and ON Semiconductor, which grew their businesses through new acquisitions last year, IHS said.

While Qualcomm, ON Semiconductor, and especially Intel saw healthy growth in 2011, the semiconductor market as a whole was a bit more stagnant. Global semiconductor revenue grew 1.3 percent - less than the originally forecasted 1.9 percent - and totaled $311 billion.

This number is up from the $307 billion the market saw in 2010, but still represents a smaller-than-expected jump.

IHS attributed this sluggish growth to the fourth quarter being particularly weak. A 5.9 percent drop in total market revenue during the last three months of the year dragged down the full-year 2011 results, the report said.

US-based chip makers saw the greatest jump in revenues among all regions, at 7.5 percent growth. The Japanese market, however, saw revenue fall 7.2 percent after taking a hit from the 2011 earthquake.

This article originally appeared at crn.com