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NOVEMBER 22, 2004 BULLETIN

Bulletin

IC Insights Forecasts 2004 Top 10 Semiconductor Company Ranking
Samsung's semiconductor sales forecast to surge over 50 percent; Infineon to jump
from 7th to 5th in the worldwide ranking

IC Insights today released its forecast for the 2004 ranking of the worldwide top 10 semiconductor suppliers (Figure 1). Two different rankings are provided, one with and one without the pure-play IC foundry supplier TSMC. When excluding TSMC, Philips joins the ranking in the tenth position.

Led by Intel, the top four semiconductor suppliers are forecast to hold their same respective positions in 2004 as they did in the 2003 top 10 ranking. Highlights of the 2004-ranking forecast include:

Intel is forecast to surpass $30 billion in semiconductor sales in 2004. However, the company is expected to register only 11 percent growth this year, and display a 3.4 percent 1999-2004 semiconductor revenue CAGR as compared to an industry-wide 6.9 percent CAGR over this same timeperiod.

Driven by surging DRAM and flash memory sales, Samsung’s semiconductor revenue (85 percent of which is memory) is forecast to grow 53 percent in 2004.

Infineon is forecast to jump from the 7^th position in 2003 to 5^th in 2004. The company will be helped by the increasing strength of the euro. In euros, Infineon is expected to register a 24 percent 2004/2003 growth rate (as compared to a 35 percent increase when its sales converted into U.S. dollars).

Total 2004 top 10 semiconductor company sales are forecast to grow 24 percent over 2003. In contrast, the worldwide 2004 semiconductor market is forecast to grow 28 percent.

It is interesting to note that of the top 10 semiconductor suppliers, including TSMC, only four companies are forecast to grow faster than the total market in 2004. When excluding TSMC from the ranking, only three top 10 companies are expected to increase their 2004 sales faster than the total semiconductor market growth rate.

Figure 1

About IC Insights

IC Insights, Inc., based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is dedicated to providing high-quality, cost-effective market research for the integrated circuit industry. Founded in 1997, IC Insights offers coverage of global economic trends, IC market forecasts, capital spending and fab capacity trends, product market details, and technology trends, as well as complete IC company profiles and evaluations of emerging markets for ICs.