Apple officially spent more cash on semiconductors in 2011 than any other company in the world, according to a new report from Gartner. The market research firm says that Apple’s semiconductor purchases saw “significant growth” in 2011—up almost 35 percent over 2010—similar to its growth numbers over the past five years. “As a result, Apple became the biggest customer of semiconductor chip vendors in 2011, climbing two places in the ranking, from third in 2010,” wrote Gartner.
The previous leader in semiconductor purchases, HP, fell from first to third place in 2011, while Samsung maintained its second place position. Dell, Nokia, and Sony made up the fourth, fifth, and sixth place rankings in 2011, with all but Apple and Samsung showing negative growth numbers between the two years. (Lenovo also had a positive 23.7 percent growth rate, but it came in at eighth place in the 2011 rankings.)
via ars technica
January 24, 2012
