Dramatic entrance
Semiconductor industry researcher IC Insights has released its 2009 list of the top 25 fabless integrated circuit (IC) suppliers and, following the spin-off of its manufacturing operations, AMD debuts at number two on the list.
The top fabless semiconductor company remains Qualcomm, which has been selling phone chips by the bucket-load for years and looks set to grow further as its Snapdragon SoC gains traction. AMD's big graphics rival NVIDIA, which was number two on the list a couple of years ago, has slipped to fifth place.
Broadcom, which looks set for some healthy growth this year as the chosen graphics chipset supplier for Intel's next generation Atom platform, slips down to third place to accommodate AMD, while the top five is completed by Taiwanese SoC maker MediaTek.
The top ten is dominated by US companies, but Taiwan and China are predicted to eat into that domination, and MediaTek were the only one of the top ten to show significant growth last year. As barriers to entry increase, the top ten are expected to own an increasing share of the whole market.
The table below shows IC revenue only.
