American research firm Gartner’s latest report on the semiconductor market shows that Apple and Samsung were the biggest customers of the industry in 2020. Apple retained its position as the number 1 semiconductor customer in the world, making up about 11.9 percent of the worldwide market.
Samsung Electronics claimed the second spot on the list, with a market share of 8.1% in 2020. This is a major leap from 2019, representing a growth of 20.4%.
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Huawei, which is now a victim of trade restrictions imposed by the United States, managed to secure the third spot with a total share of 4.2%. However, this was quite a significant decline compared to 2019, being 23.5% lower than the previous year.
The report shows how the top 10 Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), increasing their spending on semiconductors by 10% in 2020. Smartphone makers made up around 42% of the total semiconductor market, which is up from 40.9% observed in 2019. Moreover, the top 10 semiconductor customers in terms of smartphones are still the same as before.
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The report also adds that Apple managed to retain its position mainly due to the success of AirPods and the high demand for NAND flash memory due to iPads and MacBooks.
As for Samsung, the increasing demand for enterprise-grade SSDs and the weakened competition from Huawei were the main drivers behind its success. Although in terms of growth, Xiaomi topped the chart with a 26% yearly increase.
