Samsung set to unseat Intel as king of microchips

SEOUL: Intel’s more than two decade-long reign as the king of the silicon-based semiconductor is poised to end Thursday when South Korea’s Samsung Electronics elbows the U.S. manufacturer aside to become the leading maker of computer chips.

Samsung reported recordhigh quarterly profit and sales Thursday. Analysts say it likely nudged aside Intel in the April-June quarter as the leading maker of semiconductors, the computer chips that are as much a staple of the 21st century wired world as crude oil was for the 20th century. Samsung said its semiconductor business recorded 8 trillion ($7.2 billion) in operating income on revenue of 17.6 trillion won ($15.8 billion) during the April-June period.

Intel, which reports its quarterly earnings later Thursday, is expected to report $14.4 billion in quarterly revenue.

On an annual basis, Samsung’s semiconductor division is expected to overtake Intel’s sales this year, analysts at brokerages and market research firms say.

Manufacturers are packing more and more memory storage capacity into ever smaller mobile gadgets, as increased use of mobile applications drive up demand and consequently prices for memory chips, an area dominated by Samsung.

“Greater use of smartphones and tablet PCs instead of computers is driving the rise of companies like Samsung,” said Chung Chang Won, a senior analyst at Nomura Securities.