News Article
European firms are the big losers in first quarter chip rankings
Infineon, STMicro and Philips suffer the biggest revenue
declines of the top ten semiconductor makers
Europe's big three semiconductor makers - Infineon, STMicroelectronics and Philips - performed worse than any other of the top ten chip makers in the first quarter of 2005, according to market analyst iSuppli.
The companies suffered the steepest decline in revenue on a sequential basis in the first quarter. Infineon incurred the biggest drop, sales plummeting by 10.8% compared with the fourth quarter.
As a result, the German chipmaker drop from fourth to sixth place in iSuppli's quarterly chip maker ranking.
Franco-Italian chip supplier STMicroelectronics experienced the second-largest contraction in sales among the top 10, with its semiconductor revenue declining by 10.5% for the quarter. The company fell two positions in the ranking to seventh place.
Dutch chipmaker Philips posted the third-largest decline, with its chip revenue dropping by 9.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2004. Philips slipped one rank to 10th position.
