Number of Major Semiconductor Companies in Korea One-third Compared to Taiwan

The Federation of Korean Industries recently analyzed semiconductor companies that are listed in South Korea, the United States, China and Taiwan and recorded at least one trillion won in sales last year.

“According to our analysis, U.S. is home to 32 such companies, including Intel, Qualcomm and Lam Research,” it explained, adding, “The number is 21 in Taiwan and 17 in China, the 21 companies include TSMC, ASE and MediaTek, and the 17 companies include SMIC.” It also said that multiple Taiwanese fabless companies, including display IC total solution provider Novatek and networking chip designer Realtek Semiconductor, recorded at least one trillion won in sales last year.

“On the other hand, the number stands at seven in South Korea, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix,” it went on to say, continuing, “Besides, Silicon Works is currently the only South Korean fabless company with sales of more than one trillion won and this shows that Korea's semiconductor industry  is seriously lopsided to the memory chip sector and an ecosystem leading from design and material to equipment and production is yet to be established.”