Research firm iSuppli has issued their preliminary global semiconductor market share estimates for 2007, and has predicted that Intel will increase its share by the end of the year to 12.5 percent, solidifying its status as the world's top chipmaker. Samsung follows with 7.4 per cent and Toshiba brings up third place, according to iSuppli.
While the acquisition of ATI helped AMD enter the top 10 semiconductor supplier list last year for the very first time, iSuppli believes the company will see revenues decline by 22.7 percent, falling from $7.5 billion in 2006 to $5.8 billion in 2007. This will see AMD drop to 11th place in the rankings, down from eighth place in 2006.
Interestingly, the biggest rise came from Sony. The company leaped into eighth place from 14th in 2006 with a 57 percent increase in revenue, due largely to sales of chips for its PlayStation 3 games console which debuted late last year.