TSMC remains No. 3 chip supplier in Q1; MediaTek rises to No. 10

Taipei, May 29 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) remained the third largest integrated circuit supplier in the world in the first quarter of the year, while another Taiwanese company MediaTek Inc. moved up six places to 10th, according to market information advisory firm IC Insights.

Contract chipmaker TSMC posted US$12.91 billion in sales in the January-March period, up 25 percent from a year earlier, thus retaining its No. 3 global ranking, IC Insights said.

According to market analysts, TSMC benefited from strong global demand for emerging technologies such as 5G applications, high performance computing devices, and Internet of Things gadgets.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's largest IC designer MediaTek saw a 90 percent year-on-year jump in its first-quarter sales to US$3.85 billion, which boosted its global ranking six notches to No. 10, IC Insights data showed.

On the back of strong shipments of 5G chips, MediaTek overtook other IC makers such as Infineon Technologies AG of Germany and STMicroelectronics N.V. of Switzerland, which posted US$3.25 billion and US$3.01 billion in sales, respectively, to rank as the world's 12th and 14th largest suppliers, according to the data.

MediaTek's first-quarter growth was the second strongest among the semiconductor companies on the IC Insights list, behind the American firm Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD), which saw a 93 percent year-on-year sales increase to US$3.45 billion and jumped from 18th to 11th place in the world rankings.

MediaTek and AMD replaced China's HiSilicon Technologies Inc. and Japan's Sony Corp. on the list of top 15 companies.

Intel Corp. of the United States retained the No. 1 place in the first quarter, although its sales fell 4 percent from a year earlier to US$18.68 billion, while South Korean company Samsung Electronics Co. was second with sales of US$17.07 billion, up 15 percent from a year earlier.

Another South Korean firm, DRAM chip maker SK Hynix Inc. was fourth with sales of US$7.63 billion in sales, followed by five American companies -- DRAM supplier Micron Technology Co. (US$6.58 billion), IC designer Qualcomm Inc. (US$6.28 billion), Broadcom Inc. (US$4.84 billion), graphics IC designer NVidia Corp. (US$4.63 billion), and and Texas Instruments Inc. (US$4.03 billion).

Apple Inc. of the U.S. was ranked the world's 13th largest chip supplier (US$3.08 billion) and Kioxia Corp. the 15th (US$2.59 billion).

IC Insights said the top 15 suppliers generated a combined US$101.86 billion in sales in the first quarter, up 21 percent from a year earlier.