Market research firm Gartner said recently that the total chip procurement of IT manufacturers in 2021 will be $583.477 billion. This is an increase of 25.1% from a year ago. Apple gets first place by purchasing semiconductors worth $68.269 billion, an increase of 26.0% over 2020. In 2021, Apple’s performance in the smartphone and personal computer business is eye-catching. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series have become explosive models. Apple is working hard to develop its own CPUs to replace those from Intel.
Samsung Electronics came in second, with total chip purchases of $45.775 billion, up 28.5 percent from the previous year. The South Korean tech giant is the world’s largest producer of smartphones and TVs. It is also the No. 1 producer of memory semiconductors, and the No. 2 player in the foundry market. Samsung Electronics’ Device Experience (DX) business unit and Samsung Electronics’ Devices Solutions (DS) business unit purchased a large number of chips.
China’s Lenovo and BBK Electronics took third and fourth place respectively. Lenovo’s purchase volume was $25.283 billion, while BBK Electronics’ purchase volume was $23.35 billion. Their purchases increased by 32.9% and 63.8% respectively over the previous year. Lenovo, the world’s largest PC maker, increased its purchases of CPUs, GPUs, and memory. BBK Electronics sells smartphones under the Oppo, Vivo, and Realme brands, which are ranked fourth, fifth and sixth among the world’s smartphones.
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Only Huawei reduced its chip purchases
Dell, Xiaomi, and Huawei follow closely behind BBK Electronics. Dell’s purchases were $21.092 billion, a year-on-year increase of 25.4%. Xiaomi and Huawei purchased semiconductors for $17.251 billion and $15.382 billion, respectively. Compared with the previous year, Xiaomi’s purchases increased by 68.2%, but Huawei’s purchases fell by 32.3%. Among the top 10 companies, only Huawei reduced its purchases.
Dell ranks second in the world personal computer market, in terms of market share. Xiaomi is the third largest smartphone maker in the world. Huawei may fall out of the top 10 in the smartphone market, but it ranks high in the telecom equipment market. Huawei previously spun off its mobile phone brand Honor, which ranks seventh in the world smartphone market.
“Semiconductor makers will ship more chips in 2021 than in 2020, but demand outstrips supply,” Gartner said. “Semiconductor average selling prices (ASPs) are also rising. In 2021, microcontroller units (MCUs) and ASPs for general-purpose logic integrated circuits (ICs), etc. swelled 15% year-over-year.”
There is a significant shortage of chips in the industry and this is causing major manufacturers to scramble for chips. According to reports, the chip shortages will continue until 2023. In the smartphone market, Apple has the most stable chip supply.
