Dylan McGrath, EETimes
8/26/2010 12:13 PM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO—Based on its broad semiconductor product offerings and expansion plans, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is on track to catch Intel Corp. in semiconductor revenue and will most likely become the No. 1 chip vendor by the middle of this decade, according to a prominent semiconductor industry analyst.
Market research firm IC Insights Inc. acknowledged that the idea of Samsung catching Intel might have seemed preposterous five to 10 years ago, but said Samsung's IC revenues have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5 percent from 1999 through 2009, while Intel's CAGR has slowed to 3.4 percent over the same period. Extrapolating these growth rates, Samsung would pass Intel in semiconductor sales in 2014, according to IC Insights (Scottsdale, Ariz.).