Gartner: Apple is still the world's largest buyer of semiconductors in 2022

CTOnews.com, February 7, according to the latest data released by market research firm Gartner, chip spending of the world's top 10 OEM fell 7.6% year on year in 2022, accounting for 37.2% of the entire market. Apple remained the world's largest buyer of semiconductors with 11.1% of the market in 2022.

CTOnews.com learned that Masatsune Yamaji, senior director of Gartner, said in a statement that most of the world's top 10 semiconductor customers are PC and smartphone OEM. He said:

Due to the sharp decline in consumer demand for PC and smartphones, these OEM cannot increase unit production and shipments.

Persistent semiconductor shortages in the automotive, networking and industrial electronics markets have increased the average chip selling price (ASP) and accelerated semiconductor revenue growth in these markets.

As a result, these factors have led to a decline in the share of top OEMs in total semiconductor expenditure in 2022 compared with 2021.

Apple ranks first among semiconductor consumers for the fourth year in a row. The company has reduced spending on computing microprocessing units (MPU) by 11.7 per cent as it continues to shift to its own internally designed application processors. However, Apple's spending on non-memory chips increased by 2.8%.

Samsung Electronics increased chip spending by 2.2% and kept it in second place. Because of its leading position in foldable phones, the company gained more market share in the smartphone market, resulting in an increase in semiconductor spending in 2022.