***Worldwide chip market drops 8.4% in 1998
(March 31)
Worldwide semiconductor sales contracted 8.4% in 1998 from a year
earlier to 134.8 billion dollars, the biggest fall since 1985, a
report from a U.S. research group has showed.
Dataquest said sales declined in 1998 particularly in the dynamic
random access memory (DRAM) segment, which plunged 29.5%.
The overcapacity in DRAM spread to other product segments and
brought down overall sales, but demand itself was actually strong
throughout the year, Dataquest said.
The overcapacity will be resolved by the firm demand this year
and the market will return to growth, it added.
Intel continued to lead the market for the seventh consecutive
year and is now 2.8 times as big as second-ranked NEC Corp. of
Japan.
Its sales amounted to 22,784 million dollars, up 4.8% from the
previous year, with its worldwide market share at 16.9%, up from
14.7% in 1997.
NEC maintained its second rank from 1997, but its sales dropped
20.4% to 8,135 million dollars. Its market share dwindled to 6.0%
from 1997’s 6.9%.
Motorola ranked third, unchanged from 1997, and occupied a
worldwide market share of 5.3%, down from 5.5%. It is followed by
Toshiba Corp. of Japan, up one notch from 1997, with a market
share of 4.4%, down from 4.9%.
Texas Instruments came in fifth, down one notch from 1997, with a
market share of 4.3%, down from 5.0%.
The following is the 1998 list of the world’s top 10
semiconductor makers in terms of sales in millions of dollars,
with year-on-year percentage changes in parentheses.
Rankings Names Sales
1. Intel Corp. 22,784 ( 4.8)
2. NEC Corp. 8,135 (-20.4)
3. Motorola Inc. 7,086 (-12.2)
4. Toshiba Corp. 5,869 (-19.1)
5. Texas Instruments Inc. 5,820 (-20.8)
6. Hitachi Ltd. 4,620 (-26.6)
7. Samsung Electronics Co. 4,595 (-21.5)
8. Phillips Electronics NV 4,445 ( 0.1)
9. STMicroelectronics NV 4,197 ( 4.4)
10. Fujitsu Ltd. 3,826 (-17.2)
Wave Issue 9039 X/XX/99 Article 6-01