Intel still on the tops of the semiconductor companies

Qualcomm fastest growing semiconductor company, Intel still on top says Gartner

Qualcomm, designers of the highly popular Snapdragon series of chipsets plus a wide variety of wireless tech, is the fastest-growing semiconductor company according to Gartner. The two companies at the top, Intel and Samsung, were both affected by stagnation in the market in 2012.

Intel’s revenue slipped 3.1% year over year, but the company retained its leadership position for the 21st year in a row. Market share dropped a hair to 16.4% (down from 16.5%).

Samsung’s DRAM and NAND markets took a hit, but other segments picked up and the South Korean company managed a 3.1% year over year growth.

Qualcomm jumped into third position, up from 6th, with a massive 31.8% growth in revenue. That’s 18.2% better than analysts’ expectations. The company displaced Toshiba, who ranked fifth with a revenue decline of 9.8%.

Other than Qualcomm, only NXP managed to beat analysts’ expectations by over 10%. There are several companies that performed worse than expectations by over 10% too: Freescale, STMicroelectronics (who recently put an end to ST-Ericsson) and AMD.

Overall, Gartner gauged that the semiconductor industry declined 2.6% in total revenues in 2012 compared to 2011.