Samsung Electronics' dream to rank first place in comprehensive semiconductor manufacturing is about to come true. Samsung is seeing successes in both sales (market share) and profits. The difference in market share between Intel and Samsung has narrowed to 3 percent, while the latter is most likely to get about 3 trillion won (US$2.7 billion) operating profits alone in the semiconductor division in the first quarter of this year.

Experts forecast that it is possible for Samsung to become the frontrunner in four to five years if mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and bold investment are made in the non-memory field, including system semiconductors.

According to market research institute IHS on March 24, Samsung Electronics reached 10.9 percent share of the global semiconductor market last year. The Korean IT giant is catching up fast to current first-runner Intel that has 14.2 percent, narrowing the gap to 3.3 percent.

It is due to the dominant position in the memory semiconductor sector that Samsung Electronics came to the position capable to threaten Intel around 40 years after it started the business as a latecomer. Samsung developed 3-dimensional V-NAND for the first time in the world in 2013. And it is the only company in the world that can produce 20 nm DRAM.

The outstanding sales performance of semiconductors played a big support role for the company suffering from the poor sales of smartphones last year.

Meanwhile, the red light comes on the business environment for Intel, as the PC market has been contracting sharply.