Technology

Bitcoin: The Past, Present, and Future

Published

9 years ago

June 1, 2015

Jeff Desjardins

Bitcoin: The Past, Present, and Future

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are topics that we have covered to a good extent here, including our history of the first five years of Bitcoin.

Today’s infographic covers some of the same essentials, but then goes on to also cover regulation of the cryptocurrency, recent events such as the Mt. Gox bankruptcy, as well as some interesting commentary.

One interesting point brought up for the future is related to quantum computing, which was explained also in a recent infographic. Quantum computing uses subatomic particles that can store information as a “1”, “0” or both simultaneously. If computers had this capability, breaking codes will be much simpler. This means the cryptographic infrastructure behind bitcoins and other currencies would have to be updated.

Lastly, in light of Ross Ulbricht’s recent sentencing, it is interesting to consider the role of cryptocurrency in future e-commerce including the lucrative drug trade. Along with other events, many considered the demise of the original Silk Road to be a catalyst that helped bring the value of bitcoins down from their peak. The theory was that without the Silk Road marketplace, there would be less trade, and therefore bitcoins would be less valuable.

However, since then, a new Silk Road was created (and later seized), and many other attempts to build better mouse traps on the Dark Web are underway. Some people say the current markets such as Agora are bigger than Silk Road ever was. In other words, bitcoins remain just as important to this commerce aspect, but lost some of the narrative associated with it.

Original graphic by: Stetson

Related Topics:bitcoin silk road quantum computing

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Technology

Ranked: Semiconductor Companies by Industry Revenue Share

Nvidia is coming for Intel’s crown. Samsung is losing ground. AI is transforming the space. We break down revenue for semiconductor companies.

Published

7 days ago

April 9, 2024

Pallavi Rao

A cropped pie chart showing the biggest semiconductor companies by the percentage share of the industry’s revenues in 2023.

Semiconductor Companies by Industry Revenue Share

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on Apple or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Did you know that some computer chips are now retailing for the price of a new BMW?

As computers invade nearly every sphere of life, so too have the chips that power them, raising the revenues of the businesses dedicated to designing them.

But how did various chipmakers measure against each other last year?

We rank the biggest semiconductor companies by their percentage share of the industry’s revenues in 2023, using data from Omdia research.

Which Chip Company Made the Most Money in 2023?

Market leader and industry-defining veteran Intel still holds the crown for the most revenue in the sector, crossing $50 billion in 2023, or 10% of the broader industry’s topline.

All is not well at Intel, however, with the company’s stock price down over 20% year-to-date after it revealed billion-dollar losses in its foundry business.

Rank	Company	2023 Revenue	% of Industry Revenue
1	Intel	$51B	9.4%
2	NVIDIA	$49B	9.0%
3	Samsung Electronics	$44B	8.1%
4	Qualcomm	$31B	5.7%
5	Broadcom	$28B	5.2%
6	SK Hynix	$24B	4.4%
7	AMD	$22B	4.1%
8	Apple	$19B	3.4%
9	Infineon Tech	$17B	3.2%
10	STMicroelectronics	$17B	3.2%
11	Texas Instruments	$17B	3.1%
12	Micron Technology	$16B	2.9%
13	MediaTek	$14B	2.6%
14	NXP	$13B	2.4%
15	Analog Devices	$12B	2.2%
16	Renesas Electronics Corporation	$11B	1.9%
17	Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation	$10B	1.9%
18	Microchip Technology	$8B	1.5%
19	Onsemi	$8B	1.4%
20	KIOXIA Corporation	$7B	1.3%
N/A	Others	$126B	23.2%
N/A	Total	$545B	100%

Note: Figures are rounded. Totals and percentages may not sum to 100.

Meanwhile, Nvidia is very close to overtaking Intel, after declaring $49 billion of topline revenue for 2023. This is more than double its 2022 revenue ($21 billion), increasing its share of industry revenues to 9%.

Nvidia’s meteoric rise has gotten a huge thumbs-up from investors. It became a trillion dollar stock last year, and broke the single-day gain record for market capitalization this year.

Other chipmakers haven’t been as successful. Out of the top 20 semiconductor companies by revenue, 12 did not match their 2022 revenues, including big names like Intel, Samsung, and AMD.

The Many Different Types of Chipmakers

All of these companies may belong to the same industry, but they don’t focus on the same niche.

According to Investopedia, there are four major types of chips, depending on their functionality: microprocessors, memory chips, standard chips, and complex systems on a chip.

Nvidia’s core business was once GPUs for computers (graphics processing units), but in recent years this has drastically shifted towards microprocessors for analytics and AI.

These specialized chips seem to be where the majority of growth is occurring within the sector. For example, companies that are largely in the memory segment—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology—saw peak revenues in the mid-2010s.