Worldwide semiconductor revenue grew 26% in 2021: Report

The worldwide semiconductor revenue totalled $595 billion in 2021, an increase of 26.3 per cent from 2020, a report said on Thursday.

According to market research firm Gartner, Samsung Electronics regained the top spot from Intel for the first time since 2018, though by less than a percentage point, with revenue increasing 28 per cent in 2021.

"The events behind the current chip shortage continue to impact original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) around the world, but the 5G smartphone ramps up and a combination of strong demand and logistics/raw material price increases drove semiconductor average selling prices (ASPs) higher, contributing to significant revenue growth in 2021," Andrew Norwood, Vice President, Research, at Gartner, said in a statement.

Intel's revenue declined 0.3 per cent, garnering 12.2 per cent market share compared to a 12.3 per cent market share for Samsung. Within the top 10, AMD and Mediatek experienced the strongest growth in 2021 at 68.6 per cent and 60.2 per cent growth, respectively.

The most significant shift among the semiconductor vendor ranking in 2021 was HiSilicon dropping out of the top 25.

"HiSilicon's revenue declined 81 per cent, from $8.2 billion in 2020 to $1.5 billion in 2021," said Norwood.

"This was a direct result of the US sanctions against the company and its parent company Huawei," Norwood added.

According to Norwood, this also impacted China's share of the semiconductor market as it declined from 6.7 per cent market share in 2020 to 6.5 per cent in 2021.

"South Korea had the largest increase in market share in 2021 as strong growth in the memory market propelled South Korea to garner 19.3 per cent of the global semiconductor market," Norwood said.