Intel forecast to regain world #1 semiconductor supplier ranking

Intel is expected to recapture the top semiconductor manufacturer ranking in 2019 - a title it lost to Samsung back in 2017. Despite its rather tepid outlook for the upcoming year, a slump in the DRAM market might be cause enough to allow Intel slip into the numero uno slot, sending Samsung back to playing second fiddle. Despite manufacturing shortages and increasing competition, Intel managed to stay the course and maintain a relatively flat trajectory for 2019 - or so it says. Its projected revenue of $71.5bn was less than analysts had hoped for, but could be enough to clinch the title regardless as its competitors, Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, get battered by a global memory slump. The PC memory market is in “freefall”, reports DRAMExchange, and mobile phone demand is similarly in a slump, too - adversely affecting the revenues of all involved. Memory prices experienced their sharpest decline in eight years during February, as suppliers hold onto excess inventory and shorten contracts. PC memory prices reportedly plummeted by 30%. Hallelujah.