By Eydie Cubarrubia

Advanced Micro Devices will see its revenue jump 90.7 percent to become the world’s seventh-largest chip supplier, iSuppli reported Monday.

AMD’s sales increase, to $7.5 billion from $3.9 billion in 2005, will make it leap eight spots in the global ranking of chip companies by the end of the year.

Other winners include South Korean company Hynix Semiconductor, whose sales will grow 32.5 percent to $7.4 billion from $5.6 billion last year, making it the No. 8 company in the world, according to iSuppli.

Texas Instruments will have the third-greatest revenue growth among chip companies, at 19.4 percent, allowing it to maintain the No. 3 spot.

Among the top 25 semiconductor suppliers, however, are also those that will suffer revenue losses—most notably top chip maker Intel, which will see its 2006 sales fall 11.6 percent to $31.36 billion, though Intel will maintain its No. 1 position, according to the research firm.

The 2006 report is the first time, in the six years iSuppli has been compiling the list, in which both AMD and Hynix have cracked the top 10, iSuppli vice president of market intelligence research Dale Ford said in a release.

The two chip makers are benefiting from overall industry revenue of $258.5 billion for 2006, up 9 percent from $237.3 billion in 2005 and beating iSuppli’s previous growth forecast of 7.8 percent.

“This is an impressive accomplishment for both companies,” Mr. Ford said, noting that their performance comes while worldwide semiconductor sales saw renewed strength over the course of the year.

AMD’s revenue increase is due in part to its dual-core products and a long-anticipated deal with Dell (see AMD-Dell: Who Wears The Pants?).

AMD-Dell: Who Wears The Pants?

“I am sure [Dell] got requests from some of its customers” for AMD chips, Jim McGregor, an analyst with the market research firm In-Stat, said when AMD and Dell first announced their partnership (see AMD Entices Dell).

Hynix has seen sales of its DRAM and NAND flash memory lines surge. Meanwhile, Intel’s revenue decline was due in large part to falling sales of its NOR-type flash memory, iSuppli reported.

TI Dominates Cell Phones

Texas Instruments can thank its dominance in mobile phone silicon for its third-place position (see Texas Instruments Showcases Tech). The company is even leveraging its leading role in grabbing developing economies, announcing its intentions at a wireless industry summit last month in Beijing.

Beijing

“As the emerging markets evolve beyond voice-centric, basic multimedia applications, we must support the integration of more advanced multimedia features into our single-chip cell phone solutions,” Alain Mutricy, TI’s vice president and general manager of cellular systems for wireless terminals, said at the time (see Cheap Handsets Calling).

To be sure, AMD still has its weaknesses—such that even an upbeat financial report in October wasn’t enough to keep its share price up (see AMD: Profits Jump, Investors Dump).

AMD: Profits Jump, Investors Dump

For example, sales of AMD’s desktop processors remained flat thanks to low average selling prices. The company suffered from the all-out price war with Intel that led AMD’s average selling prices to drop.

But the outlook is better for newcomers to the top 10, like AMD and Hynix, than it is for those that have previously occupied those lofty spots.

Intel, Renesas Technology, and NEC—the latter expected to fall from No. 8 to No. 11—are the only semiconductor companies among 2005’s top 10 to see declining revenues this year.