As Intel mulls a plan to expand its contract-manufacturing operations, the company has lost ground as the world's top semiconductor company to chip suppliers benefiting from the success of mobile devices, according to a study by IC Insights released on Monday.

Based on revenue, Intel remained the top semiconductor company, but has lost market share to Samsung and Qualcomm, which design and supply chips for smartphones and tablets. A lot of Intel's chips are being used in PCs, whose sales are falling.

Intel's semiconductor sales in the first quarter were $11.56 billion, a 3 percent drop from the $11.87 billion in the first quarter of 2012. Samsung's semiconductor sales were $7.95 billion, up by 13 percent thanks to a boost from Apple, whose chips for iPhones and iPads are manufactured and supplied by Samsung.

Intel has the most advanced manufacturing factories today and will start making chips using the 14-nanometer process early next year. TSMC and GlobalFoundries supply many ARM-based chips to device makers and the chip makers have received a boost thanks to the growing demand for mobile devices. TSMC and GlobalFoundries hope to catch up with Intel in the manufacturing process by making their first chips laden with a 3D transistor -- also called FinFET -- starting next year. But unlike its rivals, Intel will be shrinking the transistor and will be a generation ahead in the FinFET process.