Toshiba up to 4th in 2005 chip maker ranks: iSuppli

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba will likely be ranked fourth among global microchip makers in 2005, jumping from seventh place a year ago on the back of robust demand for NAND flash memory, research firm iSuppli said on Thursday.

The top three makers are likely to be unchanged from 2004, with Intel coming in first, followed by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Texas Instruments.

ISuppli also said it now expected global chip sales in 2005 to grow 4.4 percent to US$237.2 billion, revising its September forecast of 2.4 percent growth.

Behind Samsung, Toshiba is the world's second-largest maker of NAND flash memory, widely used in digital cameras and portable music players including Apple Computer's iPod nano.

Intel and Micron Technology Inc said in November they would form a venture to make NAND flash memory chips, knocking down share prices of memory chip makers including Toshiba and Samsung.

Following is the preliminary list of the five largest chip makers, with their estimated sales in millions of US dollars and market share, according to iSuppli estimates.

NAME REVENUE MARKET SHARE
1 Intel 35,849 15.1 percent

2 Samsung 17,096 7.2 percent

3 Texas Instruments 11,105 4.7 percent

4 Toshiba 9,363 3.9 percent

5 STMicroelectronics 8,871 3.7 percent