Samsung's gap with Intel falls to record low in Q2 chip market

South Korea's top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. saw its gap with U.S. rival Intel Corp. shrink to the narrowest margin in the global chip market in the second quarter, industry data showed on Thursday.

Samsung Electronics saw its chip sales reach $10.3 billion in the April-June period to account for 12 percent of the global market, while Intel's shipments stood at $11.7 billion with a 13.6-percent share, according to the data compiled by industry tracker IHS.

It is the first time that Samsung has narrowed the gap with Intel in terms of market share to below 2 percentage points.

Samsung's gap with Intel in the segment came to 6.9 percentage points in 2011, which continued to fall to reach 4.3 percentage points in 2013 and 3.4 percentage points in 2014.

It also marked the first time for the South Korean tech firm to post quarterly chip sales of over $10 billion.

Samsung's smaller local rival SK hynix Inc. followed with a 4.9-percent market share, and sales reaching $4.2 billion.

U.S.-based Qualcomm Inc. trailed with a 4.5-percent share.

Samsung's chip-making business has been serving as a new cash cow for Samsung Electronics over the past few quarters as its mobile unit is suffering a slump.

Samsung's device solution division, which covers the chip business, logged an operating profit of 3.87 trillion won ($3.27 billion) in the second quarter, up 85.16 percent from the previous year, helping the tech giant offset a decline in its mobile business. (Yonhap)