MediaTek April sales down; firm ranks as No. 5 IC designer in 2023

Taipei, May 11 (CNA) Taiwan-based smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc. has reported a more than 16 percent drop in sales in April compared to a month earlier as market analysts attributed the decline to slow season effects in the global consumer electronics market.

A report from Taipei-based market information advisory firm TrendForce, meanwhile, showed MediaTek retained the title as the fifth largest IC designer in 2023, but its market share has fallen from the previous year.

In a statement, MediaTek said on Friday that its consolidated sales for April fell 16.74 percent from a month earlier to NT$42.03 billion (US$1.30 billion), the second lowest level for this year, just ahead of NT$38.48 billion in February, when the number of working days was reduced by the Lunar New Year holiday.

The April figure, however, rose 48.25 percent from a year earlier, MediaTek said.

In the first four months of this year, MediaTek posted NT$175.49 billion in consolidated sales, up 41.52 percent from a year earlier, with analyst saying the increase reflected a recovery in the global economy.

MediaTek has forecast its sales for the second quarter will range between NT$121.4 billion and NT$133.5 billion, little changed from or down up to 9 percent from a quarter earlier.

The IC designer said it was upbeat about a rebound in shipments of smartphone ICs, smart device ICs and power management ICs this year, expecting its sales will rise 14-16 percent from a year earlier in U.S. dollar terms.

The IC designer added its smartphone IC line is expected to record the highest growth among its divisions in 2024.

According to MediaTek, global shipments of smartphones are expected to hit about 1.2 billion units in 2024, up 1-3 percent from a year earlier.

As MediaTek is specializing in high-end flagship smartphone IC design, which carries higher price tags, smartphone chips are expected to become a driver to its sales growth in 2024.

In a research report released Thursday, TrendForce said MediaTek took the spot as the fifth largest IC designer after recording US$13.89 billion in sales in 2023, down 25 percent from a year earlier.

Due to the decline in sales, MediaTek's global market share fell to 8 percent in 2024 from 12 percent in 2023, the report showed.

TrendForce said MediaTek's smartphone IC, power management IC and smart edge divisions all reported a drop in sales in 2023.

TrendForce added, however, with its flagship Dimensity 9300 chip having been adopted by Chinese smartphone brands in China and high-end smartphone shipments expected to grow, MediaTek's sales are likely to return to a growth pattern, echoing the company's estimate.

The report showed Novatek Microelectronics Corp., another Taiwanese company specializing in display driver IC design, came in seventh after posting US$3.54 billion in sales, to take approximately 2 percent of the global IC market share.

After generating US$3.05 billion in sales in 2023, communications network IC designer Realtek Semiconductor Corp., also a Taiwanese company, grasped the eighth spot and took around 2 percent of the global market share, TrendForce said.

U.S.-based artificial intelligence IC designer Nvidia Corp. ranked as the top IC designer in 2023 after posting US$55.27 billion in sales, up 105 percent from a year earlier to boost its global market share to 33 percent from 18 percent in 2022 on the back of strong shipments of its AI GPU H100, TrendForce said.

TrendForce said Nvidia secured a more than 80 percent share in the global AI accelerator market, adding with the presence of H200, B100, B200 and GB200 chips, the company will see sales continue to grow in 2024.

After Nvidia, American smartphone IC designer Qualcomm Inc. took the second place or an 18 percent market share after reporting US$30.91 billion in sales, down 16 percent from a year earlier.

It was ahead of American wireless communications IC designer Broadcom Inc. (US$28.45 billion in sales, 17 percent in market share), and U.S.-based AI chip designer Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) (US$22.68 billion in sales, 14 percent in market share).

Others in the top 10 were U.S. data processing IC designer Marvell Technology Inc., which ranked as the sixth largest IC designer after generating US$5.51 billion in sales in 2023, Shanghai-based sensor solution provider Will Semiconductor Co., which came in ninth after posting US$2.53 billion in sales, and U.S. power management IC designer Monolithic Power Systems Inc., which took the 10th spot with US$1.82 billion in sales.