Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) had the second-biggest wafer capacity in the world last year, US-based market advisory firm IC Insights said in a report last week.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, had monthly production capacity of about 2.5 million 8-inch equivalent wafers, up 3 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 12.8 percent of the global market, IC Insights said.
TSMC’s monthly wafer production capacity included its share in two major subsidiaries: Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Systems on Silicon Manufacturing Co, a Singapore-based joint venture with the Netherland’s NXP Semiconductors NV, the report said.
TSMC is adding a new facility at its Fab 15 complex in Taichung and a new fab near its Fab 14 compound in Tainan, which are expected to boost production capacity further, IC Insights said.
Samsung Electronics Co took the top spot in worldwide wafer production capacity by rolling out 2.94 million 8-inch equivalent wafers a month, little changed from a year earlier, the report said.
The South Korean company has 15 percent of the world market, the report added.
Unlike TSMC, Samsung uses about two-thirds of its wafers to produce DRAM and NAND flash memory chips.
The firm has major construction projects under way, including large new fabs in Hwaseong and Pyeongtaek in South Korea, and Xian, China, IC Insights said.
Micron Technology Inc came in third with production capacity of 1.84 million 8-inch equivalent wafers a month, up 9 percent annually and accounting for 9.4 percent of the world total, the report said.
The US DRAM supplier received a boost from a new wafer plant in Singapore last year, it added.
SK Hynix Inc was fourth with capacity of 1.74 million 8-inch equivalent wafers a month, up 7 percent year-on-year, with 8.9 percent of the global market, the report said.
The South Korean firm assigned more than 80 percent of its wafers for DRAM production, it added.
Kioxia Holdings Corp, whose predecessor is Toshiba Memory of Japan, was fifth with monthly wafer production capacity of 1.41 million 8-inch equivalent wafers, up 3 percent from a year earlier and making up 7.2 percent of the global total, the report said.
The top five firms accounted for 53 percent of total global production capacity, IC Insights said.
TSMC, GlobalFoundries Inc, United Microelectronics Corp (聯電), Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯國際) and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (力積電) were the world’s top five contract chipmakers last year, IC Insights said.
They had a combined monthly capacity of 4.8 million 8-inch equivalent wafers, representing about 24 percent of the global total, it added.
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