Intel's Market Share Soars to 10-Year High, IHS iSuppli Says

Slumping PC sales and a struggling economy have done nothing to stifle Intel's swagger, and in fact the Santa Clara chip maker is sitting pretty with its highest annual market share in more than a decade, according to data compiled by IHS iSuppli.The leading chip maker grew its overall semiconductor market share from 13.1 percent in 2010 to 15.6 percent in 2011, which is the highest it's been since at least 2001 when it reached 14.9 percent.

"Intel in 2011 captured the headlines with its major surge in growth," said Dale Ford, head of electronics and semiconductor research for IHS. "The company’s rise was spurred by soaring demand for its PC-oriented microprocessors, and for its NAND flash memory used in consumer and wireless products. Intel’s revenue also was boosted by its acquisition of Infineon’s wireless business unit. The company’s strong rise helped it to stave off the rising challenge mounted by No. 2 semiconductor supplier Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which had been whittling away at Intel’s lead in recent years."


The world's leading chip maker also saw a 20.6 percent jump in revenue in 2011, so these aren't empty market share numbers we're talking about. No other top 20 semiconductor saw the same kind of growth that Intel did.

Intel's market share lead is only somewhat threatened by Samsung, which ended 2011 with a 9.2 percent share of the market. After that, the numbers drop steeply with Texas Instruments claiming a 4.5 percent share, Toshiba at 4.1 percent, and Renasas Electronics Corporation at 4.1 percent. AMD is in eleventh place with a 2.1 percent share of the market, according to IHS iSuppli.