STMicroelectronics, a European producer of semiconductors with a significant presence in Malta, has been ranked as the world’s tenth-largest company in the field, based on industry revenues during 2023.

Global analytics firm Omdia Research looked at the computer chip industry’s revenues last year, finding Intel remains the market leader with a close to 10 per cent share of all turnover, amounting to some $51 billion (€47.9 billion).

In second place is the breakout star of the market over the last years, NVIDIA, once known for making gaming chips but now leaning heavily in the AI space. The firm’s revenue share has tripled year-on-year, as its products – coming at some €30,000 a pop - fuel the AI boom and its own market cap, with the company now valued above €2 trillion

In 2010, NVIDIA ranked 20th, making its rise to the top – where it now hoovers up nine per cent of all revenues in the space - all the more impressive.

In third place sits South Korea’s Samsung, with an 8.1 per cent market share, followed by the US-based Qualcomm (5.7 per cent) and Broadcom (5.2 per cent). Another South Korean firm, SK Hynix, sits in sixth place with a 4.4 per cent share of industry revenues.

AMD (4.1 per cent) and Apple (3.4 per cent) follow.

In ninth place is the first European company, Infineon, which spun out of Siemens, joined in 10th place by STMicroelectronics, just the second European firm in the ranking, both pulling in around €16 billion in revenue.

Back in 2010, STMicroelectronics commanded a higher proportion of industry revenues, with one analysis putting the company in seventh place at the time.  

Microchips are increasingly recognised as a major component for the globe’s future high-tech development, and the industry is being given priority in the US, the EU and China which have all introduced legislative and financial initiatives to bolster their domestic capabilities.

STMicroelectronics’ factory in Kirkop is one of Malta’s largest employers, having been established back in 1981 when the firm was still called Società Generale Semiconduttori, eventually being renamed SGS-Thomson in 1987. The company got its current monicker in 1998.