Who Are The Major Players In The Semiconductor Industry? | MRL

45% of companies recorded double-digit growth in 2020, but which companies performed exceptionally well and saw the highest yield? We’ve kept our ear to the ground and collated the top 20 major semiconductor players based on revenue gained during a tumultuous time. 

Perhaps the company you work for is on this list, or you're interested in moving to a company that's performing exceptionally well, revenue-wise. If so, you'll find some suitable options here.

Top 20 semiconductor companies

20) Qorvo

This company, while taking the last position on our list, is still pretty impressive. Based in the US, Qorvo is a full circle company; designing, manufacturing and supplying radio-frequency systems. 

They saw a 24% growth year on year, with revenue gained to the tune of (US)$4 billion and a profit growth year on year of 119.4%. While this may be a much higher growth than some companies placing above them, this list runs on revenue gained in 2020.

19) ON Semiconductor

Another US-based company, ON Semiconductor, produces various products, including custom devices for the computing, consumer, automotive, aerospace sectors and more.

While they reported revenue of (US)$5.3 billion in 2020, this was actually a drop in growth of 4.8%, putting it firmly in position 19 on our list.

18) Microchip Technology

Mixed-signal, microcontrollers and Flash IP integrated circuits are products produced by Microchip Technology, which reported (US)$5.4 billion revenue in 2020 - a growth rise of 3.1% year-on-year. 

17) Analog Devices

Not only is this company a serious contender as a significant player in the semiconductor market, but its market position is also getting stronger, thanks to its acquisition of Maxim Integrated earlier this year. 

Analog Devices finished 2020 with (US)$5.6 billion in revenue, providing signal processing, data conversion and power management technology.

16) United Microelectronics

So far, we’ve only seen US-based companies on this list, but this next semiconductor company is based in Taiwan. 

United Microelectronics covers every sector within the electronics space with their integrated circuit (IC) production. Last year, they reported (US)$6 billion, which is a phenomenal growth of 25.2% year on year and a net profit growth of 215.5%

15) Renesas Electronics

Based in Japan, Renesas Electronics didn't see as sharp a revenue or net profit growth as United Microelectronics. Still, they did end 2021 with a revenue of (US)$6.8 billion, a considerable amount more than the company placing below it. 

Renesas Electronics works with a range of products, including sensors, power management, connectivity, analogs, microcontrollers and more.

14) NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors is based in the Netherlands and operates mainly within the automotive sector of the semiconductor industry, a strategy that is clearly working for them. 

They finished 2020 with a revenue of (US)$8.6 billion.

13) Infineon Technologies

Infineon Technologies has a broad spectrum of products, including ASIC, power, microcontrollers, sensors, transistors and more. Based in Germany, this company finished 2020 with a revenue of US)$9.6 billion. One billion more than the company taking the position below it. 

12) Advanced Micro Devices

In twelfth place, we have a US-based semiconductor company that focuses on computer processing. The pandemic has been kind to this company, allowing it to finish out the year with a revenue of (US)$9.8 billion.

This is impressive; even before you consider that the company's revenue growth year on year was 45%, and the net profit growth was 630.3%, the highest net profit growth of any of the companies on this list. 

11) STMicroelectronics

This semiconductor company is headquartered in Switzerland and has a wealth of products on the market servicing the automotive, IoT, personal electronics sectors and more. 

Their reported revenue for 2020 was (US)$10.2 billion, a revenue growth of 6.9% and net profit growth year on year of 79.3%

10) MediaTek

And MediaTek did even better. Offering chips for domestic entertainment, including hi-definition TV, smartphones and tablets, navigation systems and more, this Taiwanese company ended 2020 with (US)$10.9 billion revenue. 

Not only is this a 37.3% revenue growth year on year, but it's also a net profit growth of 86.4%

9) Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments is unsurprisingly based in Dallas, Texas. The company both designs and manufactures semiconductors, selling to electronics designers and manufacturers.

The company ended 2020 with (US)$14.5 billion in revenue, a considerable jump compared to MediaTek. However, this equated to a mere 0.5% revenue growth and an 11.5% net profit growth year on year.

8) ASML Holding

ASML Holding heralds itself as 'the world's supplier to the semiconductor industry,' enjoying (US)$15.9 billion revenue in 2020. Both developing and manufacturing photolithography systems, the company's year on year revenue growth was 20.4%. Impressive, however, not as remarkable as their net profit growth, which was 45.8%.

7) NVIDIA

Serving the gaming, professional, mobile computing and automotive markets with its design graphics processing units and system on a chip products, NVIDIA is a US-based semiconductor company that enjoyed revenue of (US)$16.7 billion in 2020.

That’s an impressive 52.7% revenue growth year on year and a 54.9% net profit growth. 

6) Micron

Focusing on memory and storage chips, Micron's revenue for 2020 is bounds ahead of NVIDIA, at (US)$21.4 billion. However, its revenue growth and net profit growth year on year were less impressive, both in the minus at -8.4% and -57.4%, respectively.

5) Qualcomm

Operating in the creation of semiconductors, wireless tech and other software, this US-based company earned (US)$21.7 billion in revenue in 2020. 

While not as impressive a leap as some of the others comparable in this list, the brand also enjoyed an 11% growth in revenue year on year and an 11.5% jump in net profit growth.

4) SK Hynix

SK Hynix is based in South Korea, and supplies flash memory chips and random-access memory chips. As the world's third-largest semiconductor company, you'd expect to see impressive revenue gained in 2020.

And it doesn’t disappoint. Almost (US)$5.5 billion more than Qualcomm, SK Hynix enjoyed (US)$27.1 billion revenue in 2020. That’s a 16% revenue growth and an impressive 134.2% net profit growth year on year.

3) Taiwan Semiconductor

Taiwan Semiconductor works with discrete devices and power ICs. If you thought SK Hynix’s jump in revenue was impressive, you haven’t seen anything yet. Taiwan Semiconductor ended 2020 with (US)$45.5 billion in revenue! And it only gets more impressive as we wrap up this list of top twenty semiconductor companies. 

Not only did Taiwan Semiconductor earn considerable revenue in 2020, it saw a 31.3% growth in revenue year on year and a 57.4% net profit growth.  

2) Intel 

Taking second place is Intel, which is based in the US but reaches much further. This brand operates largely with central processing units, integrated graphics processing units, microprocessors and much more.

While net profit growth year on year for intel dropped by 0.7%, it saw a year on year revenue growth of 8.2%. 

That may not seem like much, but it all adds up when you consider the numbers we're talking about. Intel finished 2020 with (US)$77.9 billion in revenue. 

1) Samsung

Intel may have been the largest semiconductor chip manufacturer from a revenue perspective previously, but it has now been dethroned by Samsung. 

Based in South Korea, Samsung earned substantial revenue in 2020 - (US)$200.9 billion! This was a year on year growth of 1.5% and a net profit growth of 9.9%

While there's a lot of talk about a chip shortage within the semiconductor industry, that isn't necessarily a bad thing when looking at the potential earnings and job opportunities made available in response to a hike in demand. 

MRL works closely with semiconductor companies across the globe, so if you’re looking for your next challenge, speak to one of our recruiters. We’d love to introduce you to one of our connections. We also have a list of job opportunities we’re currently recruiting for here. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.