These are the world’s top semiconductor buyers

Apple is by far the world’s largest buyer of chips, although its spending decreased last year and that trend may continue as the company is shifting to in-house designed application processors, according to market research firm Gartner. Samsung trails Apple by about 20 billion dollars but increased spending as it gained market share in the smartphone market. Third-ranked Lenovo, like all PC makers, decreased chip purchases by double digits. Sony showed the fastest growth in chip spending due to its popular Playstation 5 video game console.

Overall, the top 10 global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) decreased their chip spending by 7.6 percent. Global inflation and recession pressures sharply weakened demand for PCs and smartphones in 2022, impacting global OEM production. The zero-Covid policy in China also caused serious material shortages and short-term disruptions to the electronics supply chain.