Foundry Market Keeps Growing

Samsung Electronics saw its share of the global foundry market fall year on year in the third quarter. 

While the global semiconductor foundry market grew from the previous quarter, Samsung Electronics’ market share has shrunk. On the other hand, Taiwan’s TSMC has increased its market share and solidified its status as the world’s No. 1 foundry player.

TrendForce, a market research firm, recently said sales of the top 10 companies, which accounted for 97 percent of the world’s foundry market, rose 11.8 percent quarter on quarter to US$27.27 billion in the third quarter of 2021. The figure represented the largest quarterly sales ever.

Samsung Electronics’ foundry sales also rose 11.0 percent from the second quarter to US$4.81 billion, maintaining its second place. However, the Korean semiconductor giant’s market share fell from 17.3 percent in 2020 to 17.1 percent.

On the other hand, TSMC expanded its market share and widened its gap with Samsung Electronics. TSMC’s third-quarter sales rose 11.9 percent from the previous quarter to US$14.884 billion, accounting for 53.1 percent. The figure was an increase of 0.2 percentage points from 52.9 percent in the second quarter.

Semiconductor industry insiders believe that a recent shortage of semiconductors for vehicles caused changes in market shares. “Samsung Electronics is focused on high-tech products such as semiconductors for smartphones,” said Ahn Ki-hyun, executive director of the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association. “A rise in demand for automotive semiconductors relatively elevated TSMC’s share.”

Some point out that Samsung Electronics should be more active in investment to narrow the market share gap. 

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