Samsung Electronics ends the two decades long reign of Intel by becoming the leading manufacturer of computer chips. Samsung recorded highest quarterly profit and sales on 27thJuly, 2017. Some analysts said that Samsung pushed aside Intel as the leading manufacturers of the semiconductor.
Samsung said that their semiconductor business recorded $7.2 billion in operating income on profit of $15.8 billion during the period of April-June (2017) comparing to Intel, they reported their quarterly income on 3rd August, 2017 and they are expected to report $14.4 billion of their quarterly revenue. Samsung can take over sales of Intel in semiconductor division, on annual basis.
Marcello Ahn (South Korea- based fund manager at Quad Investment Management) stated, “Data is the new crude oil.”
Chung Chang Won, a senior analyst at Nomura Securities said, “Greater use of smartphones and tablet PCs instead of computers is driving the rise of companies like Samsung.”
Samsung continued its reign of being the largest supplier of memory chips called DRAMs and NANDs, since 2002. After Japan’s Elpida filed for bankruptcy and got sold to Micron Technology. This lead to leaving only three major suppliers of DRAM ( a type of chip used in servers, computers, and handsets). Those suppliers were Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron.
Samsung Electronics is expected to have annual sales of around $62.6 billion whereas Intel is expected to have annual sales of approx. $60 billion.