Hon Hai ranks 10th-largest chip buyer last year
REDUCED SPENDING: The company accounted for about 1.3 percent of the world’s semiconductor purchases, while Apple Inc accounted for 11.1 percent, Gartner reported
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海管理), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, ranked 10th in semiconductor purchases globally last year, US market advisory firm Gartner Inc said in a research report last week Monday.
Gartner said iPhone assembler Hon Hai, known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), spent US$7.53 billion on semiconductor purchases last month, making it the 10th largest buyer globally.
Its purchases last year were down 6.2 percent from a year earlier, causing it to fall one place in the world rankings, the report said.
Photo: CNA
Apple Inc, the biggest buyer for four years in a row, spent US$67.06 billion on chip purchases, although the US consumer electronics giant saw its spending fall 2.6 percent from a year earlier, Gartner said.
Hon Hai accounted for about 1.3 percent of global semiconductor purchases, while Apple accounted for 11.1 percent, Gartner said.
Semiconductor buyers last year cut spending on microchips by 7.6 percent from a year earlier to about US$224.01 billion, which accounted for 37.2 percent of the US$601.69 billion spent on chips worldwide, the report.
Fast-growing inflationary and recessionary pressures worldwide depressed demand for PCs and smartphones significantly last year, affecting global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) output, Gartner said.
Most of the top 10 semiconductor buyers are major PC and smartphone makers, it said.
“As a result, a sharp drop in consumer demand for PCs and smartphones has prevented the top OEMs from increasing unit production and shipments,” Gartner senior director analyst Masatsune Yamaji said in the report.
China’s strict “zero COVID” policy has also caused severe material shortages and short-term disruptions in the electronics supply chain, Yamaji said.
“A prolonged semiconductor shortage in the automotive, network and industrial electronics markets has increased average selling prices of chips and accelerated semiconductor revenue increases in these markets,” Yamaji said.
Apple cut spending on computer microprocessor units by 11.7 percent last year as the company continued to shift to its own-designed application processors, but increased spending on non-memory chips by 2.8 percent, the report said.
South Korea-based Samsung Electronics Co was the second-biggest chip buyer, having spent US$46.07 billion, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier, it said.
It was ahead of Chinese computer brand Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) at US$21.03 billion, US computer vendor Dell Technologies Inc at US$18.30 billion, China’s consumer electronics maker BBK Electronics Corp (步步高電子) at US$18.08 billion , the Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi Corp. (小米) at US$14.60 billion, China telecom equipment supplier Huawei Technologies Co (華為) at US$12.08 billion, US-based PC brand HP Inc at US$11.29 billion and Japanese electronics supplier Sony Group Corp at US$7 .98 billion, Gartner said.
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