In 2017, Samsung dethroned Intel for the top semiconductor market position after breaking a 24-year long streak. It was all good for the Korean Giant until Q2 2018, after that, things started going South. Samsung had to face massive losses due to market deflation.
According to reports, the memory market had more supply than demand, which resulted in reduced prices. The Company struggled hard in 2019 but the fall of the sale price of NAND and DRAM flash products caused a more than 50 percent decline in the profit revenue.
Meanwhile, intel managed to stay afloat and did not face a similar decline in profits since it does not only rely on memory chipsets. It is primarily a chipmaker, which is why most of the revenue comes from the development of desktop and laptop grade processors. Thus, all the while Samsung was struggling with the drop in memory chipset prices, Intel was recovering. As a result, the latter retook its spot as the top semiconductor maker by managing $65.8 billion revenue while Samsung made $52.2 billion.
Samsung has announced that it is investing to diversify its semiconductor business and has planned on generating more revenue from non-memory-based operations. Apart from this, the memory market is also expected to recover in 2020. Hence, Intel’s throne might be in danger again.
Such fierce competition is good to see, as it only results in better, more affordable products for the end consumers.