Foundry Market Likely to Expand Further
U.S. IT giants are developing their own chips one after another. They are making chipmakers nervous by developing chips tailored to their own software and hardware.
Apple loaded its own chip M1 into its tablet PC “5th-Generation iPad Pro” that was released in July. Apple is actually playing the role of a semiconductor design company (fabless company) by putting its own chips into the iPhone, the Mac Computer and the iPad.
Apple is not alone in developing its own chips. Amazon is currently developing chips for networks through Annapurna Lab, a semiconductor developer that Amazon acquired in 2015.
Google is developing its own chips for mobile application processors (APs) and Facebook for VR devices.
"Companies like Apple concluded that it was technically and commercially better to use their own chips optimized for the iPhone and the iPad than use general-purpose chips," said a semiconductor industry insider.
Accordingly, semiconductor manufacturers are looking for opportunities in the foundry business like Intel, which will make another attempt to engage in the foundry business by investing US$20 billion.
"Even if U.S. IT companies develop semiconductors, production work will be given to foundry companies," said an industry analyst. "The semiconductor industry will be further reorganized into design and production and the foundry market will steadily grow."