According to the latest report from IC Insights, which covers fabless semiconductor rankings by revenue for 2009, AMD has become the 2nd largest fabless company behind perennial leader Qualcomm. AMD became fabless in the first quarter of 2009, after spinning-off its Dresden manufacturing facilities into Globalfoundries. As an IDM, AMD had been struggling to remain in the Top 10 listing.
However, an uncomfortable trend was spotted by the market research firm in relation to U.S.-based fabless firms. IC Insights noted that 17 out of the top 25 fabless IC companies are headquartered in the U.S. but eight of the 11 top-25 companies that registered a double-digit decline in sales in 2009 were U.S.-based.
Taiwanese and Chinese IC design houses continue to advance. IC Insights expects an increasing number of Taiwan- and China-headquartered companies to eventually make the top-25 fabless supplier ranking.