Samsung Electronics Co., the world's leading chipmaker, is likely to retain its No. 2 ranking in the global semiconductor market this year, holding the double-digit market share for the second year in a row, a report showed Sunday.

According to the latest report by industry research firm IHS iSuppli, Samsung is expected to post $33.45 billion in chip sales in 2013, up 7 percent from a year ago.

The South Korean company's market share in the chip market is predicted to increase to 10.5 percent this year from 10.3 percent in 2012.

The company reached $31.26 billion in chip sales last year, surpassing the $30 billion mark for the first time.

In contrast, No. 1 player Intel Corp., a U.S. tech giant, is expected to see its chip sales fall 1 percent this year from the previous year, logging $46.96 billion. Its market share is also forecast to fall to 14.8 percent this year from 15.7 percent in 2012.

The gap in the market share held by Intel and Samsung is predicted to narrow to 4.3 percentage points in 2013 from 5.4 percentage points a year ago.

The report said Samsung could narrow the gap with Intel as the sales of its chips for smartphones such as mobile DRAM grew thanks to the expanding smartphone market, while the sales of Intel's chips mainly for personal computers (PCs) stagnated due to the PC market slump.

Another Korean chipmaker, SK hynix Inc., is expected to take the fifth spot this year, up two notches from a year ago, holding 4.2 percent of the market.

The 2013 global chip market is estimated at $317.87 billion, up 4.9 percent from $329.25 billion the previous year. (Yonhap News)