三星將超越英特爾成爲世界頭號芯片製造商大綱

Samsung Electronics is expected to overtake Intel as the world’s largest chipmaker in the current quarter, for the first time ever, on the back of strong demand for chips for mobile devices and data servers.
在移動設備芯片和數據服務器芯片的強勁需求帶動下，三星電子(Samsung Electronics)預計將在本季度超越英特爾(Intel)成爲全球最大的芯片製造商。

Intel has been the number one chipmaker since 1993 after releasing the Pentium CPU (central processing unit) for personal computers. However, the rapid adoption of mobile devices around the world has enabled Samsung to close the gap in chip sales in recent years.
自1993年發佈用於個人電腦的奔騰(Pentium)中央處理器(CPU)以來，英特爾一直是全球頭號芯片製造商。然而，移動設備在全球的迅速普及，令三星得以在最近幾年縮小在芯片銷售額上的差距。

Samsung is estimated to have generated $15.1bn in chip sales for the April-June quarter, surpassing Intel’s estimated sales of $14.4bn, according to Nomura. Samsung is also expected to displace Intel as the industry leader for the full year, unless memory chip prices fall sharply in the second half. Samsung’s 2017 chip sales are forecast at $63.6bn, versus Intel’s estimated $60.5bn.
根據野村(Nomura)的數據，在4月份到6月份的這個季度，三星芯片銷售額估計會達到151億美元，超過英特爾的144億美元的銷售額估計值。而只要內存芯片價格在下半年不急劇下滑，三星全年的銷售額也有望超越英特爾，一躍成爲行業領跑者。三星2017年的芯片銷售額預計會達到636億美元，英特爾估計會爲605億美元。

Analysts have pointed to surging prices of memory chips as the biggest reason for Samsung’s stronger position as consumers want more powerful smartphones and other internet-connected devices.
分析師指出，由於消費者想要更強大的智能手機和其他連入互聯網的設備，內存芯片價格出現暴漲，這是三星勢頭增強的最大原因。

Samsung is the world’s largest maker of memory chips, which are essential for all smartphones, tablets, personal computers and servers. Samsung also makes its own application processors for smartphones and produces processors designed by Apple and Qualcomm, while Intel has struggled to break into mobile.
三星是全球最大的內存芯片製造商。對於一切智能手機、平板電腦、個人電腦和服務器來說，這種芯片都是必不可少的。此外，三星還爲智能手機生產其自有品牌的應用處理器，並生產由蘋果(Apple)和高通(Qualcomm)設計的處理器，而英特爾一直難以打入移動設備市場。

“In the mobile era, demand for D-Ram [a type of memory chip] and SSDs [solid state drives] has surged, boosting their prices since last year amid tight supply,” said CW Chung, an analyst at Nomura. “The memory chip market has grown bigger than the CPU market.”
野村分析師CW Chung表示：“在移動時代，對DRAM（一種內存芯片）和SSD（固態硬盤）的需求激增，它們的價格從去年起就因供應緊張而上揚。內存芯片市場已發展到比CPU市場還要大的程度。”

Intel is good at making the CPU chips that power personal computers. Unfortunately for the US firm, consumer demand is sliding for these devices.
英特爾擅長生產驅動個人電腦的CPU芯片。但對這家美國企業來說遺憾的是，消費者對個人電腦的需求正在下滑。