After coming close to getting into the top-10 listings for global semiconductor rankings, AMD has finally breached the list, according to preliminary rankings by iSuppli Corp. AMD"s semiconductor revenue is expected to explode by a stunning 90 percent in 2006, which will cause the company"s ranking to jump eight places, making it the world"s seventh-largest chip maker for the year. "This marks the first time in the six years iSuppli has been compiling annual semiconductor rankings that AMD and Hynix have rated among the top 10," said Dale Ford, vice president, market intelligence services for iSuppli. "This is an impressive accomplishment for both companies." The strong performance of the two companies comes amid renewed strength in worldwide semiconductor sales for the year. iSuppli"s revised estimate for semiconductor sales in 2006 foresees revenue of $258.5 billion, up 9 percent from $237.3 billion in 2005. AMD"s revenues in 2006 are expected to increase to $7.5 billion, up $3.6 billion from $3.9 billion in 2005. AMD"s rapid rise in revenue this year is due to strong growth in its microprocessor sales, combined with its acquisition of ATI Technologies in October. AMD is expected to achieve approximately 37.5 percent growth in its microprocessor revenue in 2006 on the strength of its highly popular dual-core products. In comparison, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. is expected to see its memory revenue increase by a smaller amount in 2006, at a $1.77 billion rise.
iSuppli projects that the global semiconductor market will grow by 9 percent in 2006 based on iSuppli"s quarterly semiconductor market share research of 110 leading semiconductor suppliers. Memory chips are driving the growth of the industry with projected annual growth of 21.5 percent for the year. DRAM is the key factor propelling memory IC revenue expansion in 2006 with forecasted growth of 32 percent.
Microprocessor revenues will decline by 6.6 percent for the year due to aggressive market-share battles that are driving down prices. However, sales revenue for digital signal processors will rise by 6.6 percent for the year.