KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 18): Worldwide semiconductor revenue increased 1.1% to US$601.7 billion (RM2.61 trillion) in 2022, up from US$595 billion in 2021, according to preliminary results by Gartner Inc.

In a statement on Tuesday (Jan 17), the consulting firm said the combined revenue of the top 25 semiconductor vendors increased 2.8% in 2022 and accounted for 77.5% of the market.

Gartner vice-president analyst Andrew Norwood said 2022 began with many semiconductor devices in shortage resulting in extended lead times and increasing pricing which led to reduced electronic equipment production for many end markets.

“As a result, OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) started hedging themselves from shortages by stockpiling chip inventory.

“However, by the second half of 2022, the global economy began to slow under the strain of high inflation, rising interest rates, higher energy costs and continued Covid-19 lockdowns in China, which impacted many global supply chains.

“Consumers also began to reduce spending, with PC and smartphone demand suffering, and then enterprises starting to reduce spending in anticipation of a global recession, all of which impacted overall semiconductor growth,” he said.

Gartner said Samsung Electronics maintained the top spot although revenue declined 10.4% in 2022, primarily due to declines in memory and NAND flash sales.

Intel held on to the No 2 position with 9.7% market share.

The company was impacted by the significant decline of the consumer PC market and strong competition in its core x86 processor businesses, and revenue growth declined 19.5%.