Samsung Electronics has narrowed its market share gap with the industry leader Intel to 3.4 percentage points, mainly due to strong NAND flash memory chip sales. According to the latest data released by research firm IHS, Intel was ranked No. 1 with the market share of 14.7 percent in the second-quarter all-segment semiconductor industry ranking. Samsung Electronics was a runner-up with a share of 11.3 percent.

During the quarter, Intel earned US$720 billion in sales while Samsung posted sales of $520 billion. The market share gap between the two titans has narrowed steadily from 5.3 percentage points in 2012 to 4.2 points in 2013, 3.4 points in 2014, and 3.2 points in 2015. Even though it widened to more than 4 points in the first quarter, it got smaller again in the second quarter.

This is largely because Samsung increased its quarter-on-quarter sales by 5.4 percent on the back of the strength in its NAND flash memory chip sales while Intel's sales shrank 1.2 percent during the same period. In the second quarter, Intel reported sales revenue of $12,272 million while Samsung $9,452 million.

Intel is having trouble improving its performance in the memory chip sector although it is trying to boost sales in the NAND flash memory area including the retrofitting of China's Dalian site into a NAND-only plant.