The Chips Are Up

The Top 10 high-tech manufacturers consumed roughly one-third of all semiconductor chips in 2006, accounting for $84 billion of the semiconductor market, according to analyst firm Gartner Inc. This represents a 9% increase from 2005 when the top 10 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) accounted for $77 billion of semiconductor sales.

"The top 10 OEMs in 2006 were multinational firms that have been implementing supply chain best practices over many years," notes Alfonso Velosa, research director at Gartner. "They have experience in managing a large number of global supply chain partners. This experience is enabling these OEMs to better compete in commoditized markets by increasing the volume of products developed where product design and manufacturing may be controlled in different geographic regions by the OEM or its partners."

Top 10 Consumers Of Semiconductors 1. Hewlett-Packard 2. Nokia 3. Dell 4. Samsung 5. Sony 6. Motorola 7. Siemens 8. Toshiba 9. LG 10.Apple Source: Gartner Inc.

While semiconductor consumption will remain concentrated among the top OEMs, "the design-in, sales, order and fulfillment channels will continue to evolve," Velosa says.

See Also

• Supply Chains Also Work In Reverse
• By The Numbers: Best-in-Class Reverse Logistics
• When Not To Go Lean
• Supply Chain Management Priorities
• The Chips Are Up