Lower than China, Japan
The Korean Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade (KIET) revealed in its report titled “Global Non-Memory Semiconductor Market Landscape and Policy Implications” on Sept. 3 that last year Korea’s market share in the global non-memory semiconductor sector was a mere 3.3%, which is only one-third of Japan’s and half of China’s.
According to the report, the total size of the global non-memory semiconductor market last year was 593 trillion won. In terms of market share by country, the United States dominated with 323 trillion won, accounting for 54.5%. It was followed by Europe (70 trillion won, 11.8%), Taiwan (61 trillion won, 10.3%), Japan (55 trillion won, 9.2%), and China (39 trillion won, 6.5%).
Korea’s market share stood at 20 trillion won, 3.3%, ranking it last among major global semiconductor value chain participants behind Japan and China.
Of the total non-memory semiconductor sales in Korea last year, which amounted to 151 billion dollars (approximately 20 trillion won), Samsung Electronics had the largest share with 112 billion dollars (73.9%). It was followed by LX Semicon with 17 billion dollars (11.2%) and SK hynix with 890 million dollars (5.9%).
In the case of system semiconductors, countries clearly have their competitive advantages and strategic positioning. The U.S. monopolizes most of the market, including integrated circuits, CPUs, smartphone application processors (APs), wireless and graphic processing units (GPUs), and programmable semiconductors (FPGAs), given its history with the birth of PCs and smartphones. Europe specializes in microcontroller units (MCUs) for automobiles and industrial robots, as well as optical and non-optical sensors. Japan, similar to Europe, has a competitive edge in discrete semiconductors and MCUs for cars and precision machinery, while Taiwan excels in components for smartphones, tablets, and PCs. China boasts a broad manufacturing portfolio and a diverse range of components.
KIET stressed the need for national strategic planning in the system semiconductor sector, especially given the current “semiconductor war” ignited by U.S.-China competition.