LONDON – The top 25 fabless chip companies supplied 80 percent of the $64.9 billion market for fabless IC sales in 2011, up 4 percent from the market value in 2010, according to a ranking supplied by market research firm IC Insights Inc. Overall, 15 of the top 25 fabless IC companies outperformed the total 2011 fabless IC sales growth rate (see figures below).
Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (Shanghai, China) was the star performer among the fabless IC producers last year, with a 95 percent sales jump. Spreadtrum supplies baseband processors and CMOS RF transceivers for wireless applications with over 90 percent of its sales to China-based customers. Spreadtrum has risen from being ranked as the 67th largest fabless IC supplier in 2009 to 17th in 2011.
In contrast to Spreadtrum, ST-Ericsson's IC sales dropped 28 percent in 2011 after declining by 9 percent in 2010.
The ranking of fabless chip companies continues to be dominated by U.S. companies that occupy eight of the top ten slots by sales volume. Europe is well represented in the lower ranks with Dialog growing strongly with 77 percent annual growth, according to IC Insights.
Japan has only one company in the ranks of the top 25 fabless chip companies, MegaChips Corp. (Osaka, Japan), a developer of chips for games makers, camera companies, cell phone makers and security companies, But in 2011, unlike many of the Japanese integrated device makers (IDMs), MegaChips grew revenue by 35 percent.
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