Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/17
By: Chang Chien-chung and Frances Huang 

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, remained the third largest integrated circuit supplier in the world in the first quarter of this year, according to market advisory firm IC Insights.

Data released by IC Insights on Thursday showed that TSMC posted US$7.096 billion in sales in the January-March period, down 16 percent from a year earlier in the wake of weaker global demand, but its ranking remained unchanged.

In the first quarter, U.S.-based semiconductor giant Intel Corp. overtook Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea to become the world’s largest IC supplier as the South Korean firm saw sales revenue plunge due to a tumble in the price of dynamic random access memory chips and NAND flash chips used in storage, IC Insights said.

Intel posted US$15.80 billion in sales in the first quarter, little changed from a year earlier, while Samsung’s sales revenue fell 34 percent from the previous year to US$11.99 billion, the data showed.    [FULL  STORY]