Semiconductor revenues rocket

Worldwide semiconductor revenue rose a record 30.9 per cent in 2010 to reach $299.4 billion (184.4 billion), according to a study from Gartner.

Intel continued to top the rankings a position it has held for the past 19 years with almost $42 billion in revenues last year.

However, Samsung, with a 58.3 per cent 2009-2010 growth, began to close the gap with the market leader as it reached $28 billion revenue.

There were no major changes from the rest of the top five though, formed by Toshiba, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics respectively.

"The industry wide upturn was due to the combination of pent-up demand that had built in the wake of the worldwide economic recession, and rebuilding of semiconductor inventories that were significantly depleted during the recession and early recovery," said Peter Middleton, principal analyst at Gartner.

He also explained the trend actually started in the second half of 2009, with a rise in demand from other sectors leading to stronger order rates in the semiconductor industry.

The study showed 69.1 per cent of the sector's growth was accumulated by the top 25 semiconductor suppliers.