SEOUL, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- South Korea's Samsung Electronics led the global semiconductor market during the second quarter of this year, further widening its gap with Intel in second place.
According to business tracking firm Omdia, Samsung's market share was 12.8% during the April-June period, up 12.5% from the previous quarter with a record-high chip revenue of $20.3 billion.
By contrast, Intel's market share shrunk substantially, from 11.1% to 9.4%. At $14.8 billion, its second-quarter sales were down 16.6% from the previous quarter, with a $454 million loss as a result.
As semiconductors have become a crucial element in the modern economy, there has been widespread support for more manufacturing in the United States.
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In the last year, Intel and Samsung have announced plans to build U.S.-based factories. Samsung is slated to build its $17 billion factory near Austin, Texas, while Intel plans to spend $20 billion on two plants in Ohio.
Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order to activate domestic semiconductor production as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to bolster supply chains by weaning off reliance on foreign-made chips.
Samsung and Intel have been fierce rivals, going back and forth as number one in recent years.
Intel dominated the chip market through 2016, but in 2017 and 2018, Samsung nudged past the American manufacturer.
In 2019 and 2202, Intel reclaimed the top spot but lost it to Samsung again in 2021 and 2022.
Another Korean manufacturer, SK Hynix, ranked third in the second quarter with the market share of 6.8%, followed by two U.S. companies, Qualcomm at 5.9% and Micron at 5.2%.
Observers expect Samsung to zoom past Intel again this year.
"The decreased demand for computers and laptops is a negative for Intel, which is highly reliant on CPU sales. Samsung, less tied to CPUs, is thus likely to beat Intel again this year," Seoul-based consultancy Leaders Index CEO Park Ju-gun told UPI News Korea.
"But the thing is, the entire global chip market is losing steam right now and that means there could be some worries for Samsung also, regarding its 2022 financials," he said.
The share price of Samsung Electronics rose 0.36% on the Korean Stock Exchange Monday, while the benchmark KOSPI index slumped 1.14%.
