Small Foothold
Korea’s fabless industry is failing to make a breakthrough, although Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are doing very well in the memory industry.
According to market research firm IC Insights, the global market share of Korean fabless companies based on sales fell from 2.1 percent to less than 1 percent between 2013 and last year, whereas Chinese fabless companies increased their share by two percentage points to nine percent during the same period.
Last year, American fabless companies such as Qualcomm and Nvidia accounted for 63 percent of the global total sales, six percentage points down from 2010. “The United States, which fabless industry has focused on PCs, seems to be losing its influence in the mobile era,” said an industry expert.
China’s growth in the industry is being led by the government. The country’s market share in the sector stood at 5 percent, but rose to 7 percent in 2013 and then to 9 percent last year. According to IC Insights’ data, 14 were Chinese among the top 50 fabless companies of last year.
In the meantime, the United States’ share added up to 55 percent in 2014 in the overall semiconductor market including integrated device manufacturers and fabless companies, but excluding foundry firms. It was followed by Korea (18 percent), Japan (9 percent), Taiwan (7 percent), Europe (6 percent), and China (3 percent).