Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to become the world's top chipmaker during the second quarter of this year, a report showed Saturday, beating its traditional rival Intel Corp.

"Following the rise in number of data centers and expanded demand of solid state drives (SSDs), Samsung is expected to become the No. 1 player in the global chip industry," said Lee Se-cheol, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities Co.

Intel took up 13 percent of the global market in the first quarter of 2016 while the South Korean giant accounted for 9.1 percent. Over the January-March period of 2017, Intel took up 14.7 percent while Samsung held a comparable figure of 13.4 percent.

"Starting the March-June period, Samsung's global market share of chips will surpass the 15-percent mark to outpace its rival, helped by its improved competitiveness in the memory segment," the report added.

Intel has been No. 1 chipmaker in terms of sales for 26 years since 1991. (Yonhap)

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