Dive Brief:
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Samsung's semiconductor unit brought in more revenue than Intel last quarter, surpassing the world's largest chip maker for the first time, according to Fortune.
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Samsung brought in $15.8 billion during the latest quarter. Intel reported $14.76 billion in chip sales in the same period. Intel has been the leading semiconductor company by sales for the last 25 years, according to the Associated Press.
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Samsung recently announced it plans to spend $18 billion to grow its South Korean semiconductor manufacturing facilities.
Dive Insight:
This turn of events is all about the decline of the PC and the rise of smartphones and tablets. Samsung sells memory chips for mobile devices and servers, while Intel focuses on microprocessors to run personal computers.
Intel has been working hard to shift its business model in recent years to focus on new areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Intel also bought AI chip startup Nervana last August and is developing a chip designed to run AI-based systems. But such changes take time, giving Samsung an opportunity to catch up to the chip giant.
Intel also faces competition from non-traditional chip makers. Microsoft and Google are developing AI chips, because they say traditional chip makers aren't moving fast enough.
