Samsung, Apple top semiconductor chip buyers in 2017New Delhi, Jan 25 (AZINS) Samsung Electronics and Apple were the top semiconductor chip buyers in 2017, together consuming $81.8 billion of chips last year -- an increase of more than $20 billion from 2016, market research firm Gartner said on Thursday.

Both the companies represented 19.5 per cent of the total global market. The South Korean giant led with a market share of 10.3 per cent while Apple had a share of 9.2 per cent.

"Samsung Electronics and Apple not only retained their respective No. 1 and No. 2 positions, they also radically increased their share of semiconductor spending through 2017," Masatsune Yamaji, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner, said in a statement.

Samsung Electronics witnessed a growth of 37.2 per cent in the year 2016-17 while Apple grew 27.5 per cent in the same period.

"These two companies have held on to the top positions since 2011 and they continue to exert significant influence on technology and price trends for the whole semiconductor industry," Yamaji added.

Dell, Lenovo and Huawei were at the third, fourth and fifth positions with 15.9 per cent, 9.6 per cent and 32.1 per cent growth respectively.

China's BBK Electronics rose one place from 2016 to sixth position with a growth of 88.8 per cent in 2016-17 by increasing its semiconductor spending by $5.7 billion.

HP Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprises followed at the seventh and eight position at 12 per cent and 17.5 per cent growth respectively.

Registering a growth of 26.6 per cent in 2016-17, LG Electronics -- another South Korean tech major -- returned to the list of semiconductor chip buyers at the ninth spot.

Newcomer Western Digital grew its semiconductor spending by $1.7 billion in 2017 to secure the 10th spot.