Glofo Outstripped UMC in 1Q12 Revenue

choi

(1)
(a) Qualcomm, Micron, and GlobalFoundries Gain in 1Q12 Top 20 Ranking!  IC Insights, May 14, 2012
http://www.icinsights.com/news/b ... Q12-Top-20-Ranking/
(1Q12 sales of Globalfoundries and UNC were $840m and $834m respectively)
(b) Extreme Results in Top 25 2011 Semiconductor Sales Ranking!
http://www.icinsights.com/news/b ... ctor-Sales-Ranking/
(2011 top 25 semiconductor sales leaders ($m, including foundries))

(2) US-based Companies Held 12 of the Top 25 Fabless Spots in 2011. IC Insights, May 14, 2012
http://www.icinsights.com/news/b ... less-Spots-In-2011/
(Taiwan's MediaTek fell from 4th in 2009, through 5th in 2010, to 6th in 2011)

Quote: "China-based Spreadtrum was the star performer among the fabless IC producers last year, logging an amazing 95% sales jump. Spreadtrum supplies baseband processors and highly integrated CMOS RF transceivers for wireless applications with over 90% of its sales to China-based customers. As was shown in Figure 1, Spreadtrum has risen from being ranked as the 67th largest fabless IC supplier in 2009 to 17th in 2011, a jump of 50 spots in only two years!  Spreadtrum and ST-Ericsson are both heavily involved in the cellphone marketplace. In contrast to Spreadtrum, ST-Ericsson’s IC sales dropped 28% in 2011 after declining by 9% in 2010.

Note: Spreadtrum Communications, Inc
www.spreadtrum.com
(founded in 2001; headquartered in Shanghai; stocks in NASDAQ)

(3) Ian King, Adam Satariano and Tim Culpan, Smartphone Biz Hurt by Own Success as Chip Supply Shrinks. Bloomberg, May 17, 2012.
http://www.businessweek.com/news ... chip-supply-shrinks

Quote:

"Qualcomm is currently the main provider of Long Term Evolution, or LTE [4G], chips that offer the fastest connections to the Internet, meaning a shortage may crimp supply for new devices from Apple Inc, HTC Corp and Samsung Electronics Co.

"The San Diego-based company [Qualcomm] is the only chipmaker capable of delivering semiconductors that provide both LTE and connections to older networks

"Although there is demand for at least 30 million of its new combined LTE baseband chips this year, Qualcomm can only supply as little has half that number, he [Sravan Kundojjala, an analyst with Strategy Analytics Ltd] added.

"Smartphones have replaced the personal computer business as the technology industry’s engine of growth.

"Unlike Intel Corp’s dominance in PC chips, Qualcomm, Broadcom Corp. and other makers of key semiconductors in smartphones have built their success on outsourcing. * * * 'They [foundries] were taken greatly by surprise by how much they need,' said Rick Wallace, CEO of KLA-Tencor Corp, a supplier of chipmaking machinery. * * * Chipmakers haven’t put enough capacity in place because they didn’t believe the market could grow as quickly as their customers told them and didn’t want to be stuck with factories that weren’t operating full-bore, said Andrew Dailey, who studies supply chains as managing director of MGI Research in Mill Valley, California.

"Samsung, which is also the world’s second-largest chipmaker, and Apple, which buys chips from its South Korean rival, may also be less susceptible because they aren’t as dependent on Qualcomm as other phone makers.

"Smartphones now represent more than a third of the [handset] market, up from 25 percent in the first quarter of last year.

Note: The report quotes Apple CEO as saying saying we are "trying to push every button within our disposal to work on it.”

disposal (n): "the power or authority to dispose or make use of as one chooses <the car was at my disposal>"
www.m-w.com


(4) Ken Liu, 28nm Contracts Inundating UMC Production Lines Amid Supply Shortage. Taiwan Economic News (CENS), May 17, 2012
http://news.cens.com/cens/html/en/news/news_inner_40201.html
(UMC has become "the foremost beneficiary amid the severe supply shortage" of 28-nm process at TSMC)

My comment: Likely Globalfoundries' tapeout number is a trade secret, and unavailable to CENS. At any rate, CENS does not mention GloFo's number--thus not in a position to say UMC benefits the most. There is also Samsung.