This is according to market researcher Semicast, which said that Freescale Semiconductor, for many years the leading supplier of automotive semiconductors, dropped to fourth place.
The research found that Renesas Electronics held a substantial lead over the second placed supplier, Infineon Technologies, which in 2010 had an estimated market share of 7.9 per cent.
Colin Barnden, principal analyst at Semicast Research and study author, commented: "Automotive semiconductor sales are now at record levels, having surpassed the previous peak of $20 billion in 2007 and growth is set to continue, with sales of automotive semiconductors forecast to total $39 billion in 2017."
Meanwhile, new research has found that worldwide sales of semiconductors were $25.5 billion for the month of January 2011.
This is a gain of 1.5 per cent from the prior month when sales were $25.2 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.
