SAN FRANCISCO: Intel Corp., the world's largest maker of semiconductors, dropped from first place to fourth place in total sales of flash memory in the third quarter, the first time Intel has been knocked from its No. 1 spot, market researcher iSuppli said on Wednesday.
Intel, however, remained the leading provider of the NOR flash memory used in mobile handsets, said Betsy Van Hees, a principal analyst at iSuppli.
Samsung Corp. and Toshiba Corp., propelled by sales of removable flash memory used in digital cameras and other devices, took the top two spots in terms of market share based on sales, Van Hees said. Such removable flash memory is known as NAND.
Coming in third place was flash supplier FASL LLC, a joint venture between Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Fujitsu Ltd., according to Van Hees.
Total flash memory sales in the third quarter rose to $3.1 billion, up 27 percent from $2.4 billion in the second quarter, the market research firm said.
Samsung and Toshiba saw flash sales driven by exceptionally strong demand for digital cameras and new USB drives used as removable storage for PCs, Van Hees said.
Sales of both NOR and NAND flash memory are expected to gain further in the current quarter, typically the biggest season of the year in terms of consumer electronics sales, Van Hees said.
Samsung had a third quarter flash market share of 20 percent, Toshiba 17.3 percent, FASL 13.8 percent and Intel 13.5 percent, the market research firm said.
® Reuters
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