Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Samsung May Overtake Intel As World's Largest Chip Maker In 2017 (pcmag.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the there's-a-new-sheriff-in-town dept.

According to U.S. semiconductor market research firm IC Insights, Samsung is likely to overtake Intel as the world's largest chip maker later this year. Bill McClean, president of IC Insights, explained that "If money market prices continue to hold or increase through the second quarter and the balance of this year, Samsung could charge into the top spot and displace Intel." PC Magazine reports: Intel first became the world's largest chipmaker back in 1993 and has held the title ever since. But as the mobile market has exploded, so did the need for the chips that make them work. Unlike on PC where Intel dominates, mobile is a different matter entirely, and Samsung is on hand to provide the DRAM and NAND chips they require. Intel first became the world's largest chipmaker back in 1993 and has held the title ever since. But as the mobile market has exploded, so did the need for the chips that make them work. Unlike on PC where Intel dominates, mobile is a different matter entirely, and Samsung is on hand to provide the DRAM and NAND chips they require.

11 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Proof-reading? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Or is it just repeating the same phrases twice to pad out a submission?

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:Proof-reading? by ch0knuti · · Score: 3, Funny

      No it's just a multithreaded post.

  2. A dupe within the same story by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Funny

    Intel first became the world's largest chipmaker back in 1993 and has held the title ever since. But as the mobile market has exploded, so did the need for the chips that make them work. Unlike on PC where Intel dominates, mobile is a different matter entirely, and Samsung is on hand to provide the DRAM and NAND chips they require.

    Intel first became the world's largest chipmaker back in 1993 and has held the title ever since. But as the mobile market has exploded, so did the need for the chips that make them work. Unlike on PC where Intel dominates, mobile is a different matter entirely, and Samsung is on hand to provide the DRAM and NAND chips they require.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  3. The summary repeats itself by skirmish666 · · Score: 2

    And it repeats itself too.

    --
    Sigger than your average
  4. The submitter could have been more informative... by bogaboga · · Score: 2

    Apart from duplicating that intro, the submitter would have been more informative if he/she told us who Intel supplanted back in 1993.

    I now have to `google` this I guess.

  5. Are you sure? by ls671 · · Score: 2

    Are you sure that:
    "Intel first became the world's largest chipmaker back in 1993 and has held the title ever since."

    reference please...

    --
    Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    1. Re:Are you sure? by binarybum · · Score: 2

      they said it twice - isn't that enough!

      --
      ôó
  6. NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    According this is link it was the Japanese manufacturers.

    http://www.icinsights.com/news/bulletins/Tracking-The-Top-10-Semiconductor-Sales-Leaders-Over-26-Years/

    IMHO, you can buy an 8 core 64 Bit 2Ghz computer for $60 these days, complete with Bluetooth, HDMI, flash, Wifi, ethernet.... so Intel has already lost the market to a *cluster* of companies that includes Samsung, and it's for those companies to fight it out to see who becomes the dominant one. Intel will not be one of the winners.

    I don't think Samsung are currently likely to come out top, the Chinese chip makers are too cheap, they've been commoditized.

    (Google Android TV Box S912 and you'll find a load of these, stick Ubuntu Arm on these and they're faultless, as Android boxes they will play 3D games and 4K video reasonably).

    1. Re:NEC, Toshiba, Hitachi by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      so Intel has already lost the market to a *cluster* of companies that includes Samsung, and it's for those companies to fight it out to see who becomes the dominant one. Intel will not be one of the winners

      I'm not so sure, for two reasons:

      The first is that economies of scale are hugely important in the fab business. AMD spun off Global Foundries so that they could share their fab R&D costs with other companies and whoever has the highest quantities of current-process chips (older processes are less important - you run a fab for years after it's superseded, but your margins go down a lot) has a big advantage in terms of amortising their R&D costs across multiple chips. Being smaller than 5 other companies combined is not a problem, being smaller than one other company is.

      Second, people typically think of Intel as a processor vendor, but they're not. They're a chip maker that happens to design x86 cores as a way of keeping their fabs running. A lot of what they sell are RAM chips, network controllers, and so on. x86 chips make up a surprisingly small percentage of their total output. They're also an ARM licensee (you might be surprised at how many ARM cores there are on an Intel motherboard), and have just upgraded their ARM license, so there's nothing to stop them fabbing ARM cores if they decide it's a good business to be in (they do already on a bunch of their FPGA products).

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  7. Revenue, not product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The article really says that Samsung's revenue will exceed Intel's if memory prices stay high. If prices drop, then Samsung is number 2. It has little to do with actual production of product. By this metric, Samsung could produce less and still become first in revenue if prices rise enough.

  8. Spelling and grammar by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    At least there are no spelling and grammar errors in the summary.