Samsung and Apple Extended Their Lead as Top Global Semiconductor Customers in 2017

Samsung Electronics and Apple remained the top two semiconductor chip buyers in 2017, representing 19.5 percent of the total worldwide market, according to Gartner, Inc.

Samsung and Apple together consumed $81.8 billion of semiconductors in 2017, an increase of more than $20 billion from 2016.

"Samsung Electronics and Apple not only retained their respective No. 1 and No. 2 positions, they also radically increased their share of semiconductor spending through 2017," said Masatsune Yamaji, principal research analyst at Gartner "These two companies have held on to the top positions since 2011 and they continue to exert significant influence on technology and price trends for the whole semiconductor industry."

Eight of the top 10 companies in 2016 remained in the top 10 in 2017, with the top five chip buyers remaining in the same positions, Garner estimates. LG Electronics returned to the top 10 and was joined by newcomer Western Digital, which grew its semiconductor spending by $1.7 billion in 2017. BBK Electronics rose one place to sixth position, increasing its semiconductor spending by $5.7 billion.

Preliminary Ranking of Top 10 Companies by Semiconductor Design TAM, Worldwide, (Millions of Dollars)

2016 Ranking	2017 Ranking	Company	2016	2017	2017 Market Share (%)	Growth (%) 2016 - 2017
1	1	Samsung Electronics	31,426	43,108	10.3	37.2
2	2	Apple*	30,390	38,754	9.2	27.5
3	3	Dell	13,544	15,702	3.7	15.9
4	4	Lenovo	13,384	14,671	3.5	9.6
5	5	Huawei	10,792	14,259	3.4	32.1
7	6	BBK Electronics	6,411	12,103	2.9	88.8
6	7	HP Inc.	8,906	9,971	2.4	12.0
8	8	Hewlett Packard Enterprises	6,124	7,199	1.7	17.5
11	9	LG Electronics	5,162	6,537	1.6	26.6
13	10	Western Digital	4,470	6,210	1.5	38.9
		Others	212,906	251,206	59.9	18.0
		Total	343,514	419,720	100.0	22.2

TAM = total available market

Source: Gartner (January 2018)

A significant price increase of DRAM and NAND flash memory had a big impact on semiconductor buyers' ranking through 2017. Most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), even the big ones, could not avoid the risk of a memory chip shortage and rise of memory prices through 2017. Supply shortages occurred not just in the memory IC market, but also in other semiconductor chip markets, such as microcontrollers and discrete, as well as in the passive component market, which benefited the suppliers but troubled the OEMs. On the other hand, successful OEMs are often differentiating their products with their own captive silicon solutions. The increase in OEMs' captive chip spending is a great risk for commercial chip vendors' future growth.

Semiconductor spending by the top 10 OEMs increased significantly, and their share reached 40 percent of the total semiconductor market in 2017, up from 31 percent 10 years ago. This trend is expected to continue, and Gartner predicts that, by 2021, the top 10 OEMs will account for more than 45 percent of total global semiconductor spending.