The research firm iSuppli predicts that the global semiconductor market revenue will drop by 12.4% in 2009, with only one of the top 10 suppliers being expected to achieve growth for the year: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, who maintained its No.2 position in the global semiconductor market behind Intel.

“The year 2009 will be remembered as one of the most dismal years in the history of the global semiconductor business, with a plunge of more than $32 billion in revenue compared to 2008,” said Dale Ford, senior vice president at iSuppli Corp. “However, iSuppli’s preliminary estimate of a 12.4 percent decline is far better than expectations from early 2009 of a more than 20 percent plunge.”

AMD managed to limit its 2009 revenue decline to 7.6%, and climbs back into the Top-10 rankings after a one-year adsence.

The better-than-expected results in 2009 should owe to the surprisingly strong performance in the memory market as well as in sales of chips for consumer electronics and wireless products.