TechPowerUp - Revenue of Top 10 IC Design (Fabless) Companies Reaches US$29.8 Billion for 2Q21, Though Growth May Potentially Slow in 2H21.
“In view of the ongoing production capacity shortage in the semiconductor industry and the resultant price hike of chips, revenue of the top 10 IC design companies for 2Q21 reached US$29.8 billion, a 60.8% YoY increase. In particular, Taiwanese companies put up remarkable performances during this period, with both MediaTek and Novatek posting YoY growths of more than 95%. AMD experienced a nearly 100% YoY revenue growth, the highest among the top 10.
Thanks to strong demand, revenue leader Qualcomm's processor and RF front-end businesses underwent remarkable growths, while its IoT business also benefitted from WFH and distance learning demands generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nvidia's revenues from gaming graphics cards and data center solutions each grew by 91.1% YoY and 46% YoY, respectively, in 2Q21. Strong demand from cryptocurrency miners for Nvidia's high-end gaming graphics cards, along with the data center segment's demand for Nvidia's HPC products, propelled the company's revenue for 2Q21 to US$5.84 billion, a 68.8% YoY growth.
Broadcom attributed most of its revenue to wired connectivity and wireless products. Regarding wired connectivity products, the continued build-out of 5G base stations worldwide resulted in increasing demand for Broadcom's high-speed Ethernet controller ICs, whereas for wireless products, the release of certain high-end 5G smartphones also created high demand for Broadcom's Wi-Fi 6E chips. AMD's revenue for 2Q21 reached US$3.85 billion, a staggering 99.3% YoY increase, owing to the following: first, the bullish gaming console market; second, massive earnings growths from enterprise, embedded, and semi-custom solutions; third, increased client adoption of AMD's server CPUs AMD took fifth place in the top 10 list for 2Q21.
MediaTek sustained the momentum it gained in 1Q21 throughout 2Q21. MediaTek's smartphone chip business, which generated the bulk of the company's revenue, registered a 143% growth in 2Q21. MediaTek posted a revenue of US$4.49 billion for 2Q21, a 98.8% YoY growth. Novatek's SoCs and display driver ICs both performed well in the market primarily due to its close partnerships with major foundries, including TSMC, UMC, and VIS. Revenue from display driver ICs, which had traditionally been Novatek's primary revenue source, grew by 81% YoY in 2Q21.
Certain rumors in the end-devices markets indicate that demand will likely undergo a slowdown in 3Q21 and lead to decreased orders for certain components. However, given that foundries' newly installed wafer capacities have yet to kick off mass production, the ongoing chip shortage is expected to persist for now. In addition, as some IC design companies' client orders still remain unfulfilled, these companies' revenues will likely experience further growths in 2H21, albeit to a relatively limited extent.”
The bottom line is that these companies are selling everything they have. If the fabs increase pricing again, I think the revenue growth will continue.