What you need to know
- Apple was the world's leading semiconductor customer last year.
- That's thanks to increased demand for mobile PCs and tablets.
Apple remained the number one global semiconductor in 2020, according to new research from Gartner.
As reported by Digitimes:
Apple and Samsung Electronics extended their lead as top semiconductor customers in 2020, according to Gartner.Apple retained its position as the No. 1 global semiconductor customer in 2020, thanks mainly to the continued success of AirPods, special demand for Mac computers and iPads, and increasing NAND flash consumption. "Increasing demand for mobile PCs and tablets due to working from home significantly drove the production of Macs and iPads through 2020," said Masatsune Yamaji, research director at Gartner. "The company also began its transition to Apple silicon for its Mac product line in the second half of 2020."
According to the report, Samsung remained in second place, increasing spending by 20.4% in 2020 "due to weakened competition from Huawei and the strong demand for enterprise solid-state drives (SSD) for data centers."
Gartner reportedly notes that the top OEM's semiconductor spending was impacted most by the COVID-19 pandemic and tensions between Beijing and Washington. Accordingly, the pandemic weakened demand for 5G smartphones and impacted vehicle production, conversely driving demand for mobile PCs and gaming devices, as well as investment in cloud data centers.
Apple recently announced record revenues for Q1. From the results:
Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2021 first quarter ended December 26, 2020. The Company posted all-time record revenue of $111.4 billion, up 21 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.68, up 35 percent. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter's revenue... "Our December quarter business performance was fueled by double-digit growth in each product category, which drove all-time revenue records in each of our geographic segments and an all-time high for our installed base of active devices," said Luca Maestri, Apple's CFO.
