Intel, headquartered in California 's famous Silicon Valley , is a large semiconductor company with more than 110,000 employees in 46 countries. The company was founded in 1968 and has since grown to become the largest revenue giant among semiconductor companies.
On the semiconductor side, Intel is the developer of the x86 family of microprocessors commonly used in laptops and other PCs. The company supplies these microprocessors to major computer and technology companies such as Lenovo , HP and Dell .
Intel does not just produce semiconductors as some of the company's major products include motherboard chipsets, network interfaces controllers , integrated circuits , flash memory, graphics chips, embedded processors and many more.
Since 2009, Intel has made more than 31 acquisitions worldwide and is ranked in the top 50 of the Fortune 500 companies in the United States by total revenue.
2. Samsung Electronics
2022 revenue: $52.2 billion
Total assets: $304 billion
Founded in 1969, the South Korean electronics company is one of the world's largest producers of semiconductors. Globally, the company has nearly 290,000 employees and operates in 74 countries.
Samsung 's semiconductors are often used in smartphones and tablets, especially the company's Samsung Galaxy line of devices.
However, semiconductors are not the only products Samsung produces. Samsung also produces lithium-ion batteries , image sensors, camera modules and displays, etc. For the most part, some of the company's most important customers are Apple , Sony , HTC and Nokia .
Overall, Samsung is the largest mobile phone and smartphone manufacturer, which makes it an extremely relevant and important company in 2021.
3. TSMC (TSMC)
2022 revenue: $45.5 billion
Total assets: $89.87 billion
As the world’s largest dedicated independent semiconductor factory, it’s no surprise that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is one of the largest companies in Taiwan and the world.
The company has grown rapidly since 1994, with revenue growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.4%. Today, TSMC has more than 50,000 employees and produces more than 10 million semiconductor wafers annually.
The most famous devices using TSMC semiconductors are Apple products, from MacBook Air to iPhone 12.
4.SK Hynix Corporation
2022 revenue: US$25.27 billion
Total assets: US$56.08 billion
SK Hynix Corporation (formally known as Hyundai Electronics) is a South Korean company specializing in the production of memory semiconductors, with branches in South Korea, the United States, China and Taiwan. In South Korea alone, the company has more than 22,000 employees.
As mentioned earlier, SK Hynix is a major manufacturer of memory semiconductors or memory chips. There are several major consumers of these memory chips, including Apple, Asus, Dell and HP.
Additionally, the company makes other electronic products, from DVD players to cell phones.
5. Broadcom Inc.
2022 revenue: $23.89 billion
Total assets: $75.93 billion
Broadcom Founded in 1991, it is an American public company headquartered in Irvine, California. The company's expertise in producing semiconductors ranges from computers to smartphones, and they produce products for dozens of major companies. Common customers of
include Apple, Motorola , IBM , Dell, Asus, Lenovo, Logitech , Nokia, and even Nintendo .
's interest in Broadcom's products stems largely from their chips' ability to speed up tasks that use encryption. For many companies, these chips help with e-commerce and secure communications.
Broadcom also produces the "BCM43" series of chips designed to provide WiFi support for many smartphones. Unlike other companies on this list, both Apple and Android devices use these chips.
6. Qualcomm
2022 revenue: $23.53 billion
Total assets: $35.59 billion
Qualcomm Incorporated was founded in Southern California and is headquartered in Southern California. It is a semiconductor company specializing in software and other wireless technologies.
Compared to other companies on this list, Qualcomm makes semiconductors for a very wide range of devices, from cars to watches, from laptops to smartphones, to WiFi.
Qualcomm is known as an innovative company. In 2017, the company stepped out of its comfort zone and created its first PC server chip called the Centriq 2400. The success of , the chip, led to their expansion into manufacturing more PCs, semiconductors and other electronics.
Qualcomm was also one of the first companies to manufacture 5G technology, and more than 20 mobile devices currently use the company's 5G technology.
7. Micron Technology
2022 revenue: $21.43 billion
Total assets: $53.68 billion
Micron Technology is the only Idaho-based semiconductor company on this list that specializes in making memory and data storage for computers. Currently, the company has approximately 40,000 employees and 18 branches worldwide.
Over the past two years, Micron has released quite a few impressive products. In 2019, the company produced the first microSD card with a storage capacity of 1 TB. In fact, as of 2020, Micron produces the world's largest SSD: the 3.84TB Micron 5210 Ion.
8. Applied Materials
2022 revenue: $17.2 billion
Total assets: $22.35 billion
Applied Materials is a Silicon Valley giant that specializes in semiconductors used in electronics, computer monitors, smartphones, televisions and solar products. The American company was founded in 1967 and today employs more than 20,000 people.
The company would likely be higher on this list if not for its canceled 2013 merger with Tokyo Electron, then the largest semiconductor equipment maker.
Applied Materials not only specializes in manufacturing semiconductor chips , but also provides valuable equipment used to manufacture the chips. For example, the company's equipment helps produce coatings for flexible electronics.
9. Nvidia Corporation
2022 revenue: $14.78 billion
Total assets: $26.88 billion
Nvidia, also headquartered in Silicon Valley, California , is a unique semiconductor company that specializes in graphics processing units (GPU), which are particularly useful for computer games .
The company's GPU product line is called "GeForce" and is the most popular graphics processor in the United States. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti is also the most powerful gaming GPU currently.
While gaming is one of Nvidia's main markets, the company's GPUs are also used in supercomputing sites around the world. More recently, the company has also provided processors for smartphones, cars and other devices.
10. Texas Instruments Inc.
2022 revenue: $14.46 billion
Total assets: $19.35 billion
Texas Instruments (TI) is one of the oldest semiconductor companies on this list, having been founded in 1930 over 90 years ago. Today, the company has nearly 30,000 employees and develops analog chips and embedded processors.
TI is a historic semiconductor company that produced the world's first commercial silicon transistors (1954), integrated circuits (1958), handheld calculators (1967) and DLP chips (1987).
In 2020, TI's products were used in nearly every electronic device, making the company an important indicator of the health of the semiconductor industry.
