Intel and Texas Instruments are the two top semiconductor companies in China, but STMicroelectronics and Samsung are moving up in the rankings, according to high-tech market researcher iSuppli.

Intel, with it strong position with microprocessors, dominated the chip market with $$5.7 billion in revenue in 2005. TI, with a 23% increase in revenue over 2004, was second with $2.2 billion in sales in China. TI saw strong demand for its digital signal processors, analog and logic chips.

STMicroelectronics moved up to third from fourth in 2004 with 2005 sales of $1.8 billion. ST's strong performance was attributed to its restructuring and its gains in supplying chips to emerging product areas in China such as set-top boxes, says researcher iSuppli.

Samsung moved up from fifth to fourth in the rankings with 2005 revenue of $1.7 billion. The company's improvement was due to its growing memory IC business and its expanding market share in microcontrollers.

Philips Semiconductors dropped to fifth position, from third in 2004. Philips makes many analog parts for cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors and televisions, but those markets are shifting to liquid crystal display technology, says iSuppli.

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