Taiwan led the world in IC wafer capacity last year, and it is expected to retain this position through 2024, semiconductor market research company IC Insights said on Thursday.
Taiwan accounted for 22 percent of the global wafer capacity last year, followed by South Korea with 21 percent, Japan with 16 percent and China with 13.9 percent, it said in a report.
In 2015, Taiwan surpassed South Korea to become the world’s No. 1 in wafer capacity. It is forecast to add 1.3 billion wafers from last year to 2024 to maintain its lead, the report said.
China is expected to see the largest percentage gain in capacity share during the same period, the report said.
With DRAM and NAND factories under construction, China is catching up rapidly, it added.
A substantial amount of wafer capacity is to be built up in China over the next few years by memory manufacturers headquartered in other countries as well as local manufacturers of other types of ICs, it said.
China’s capacity is predicted to surpass Japan’s this year and overtake South Korea’s in 2022.
North America is expected to see a decline in wafer capacity in the coming years, as US companies continue to rely on overseas foundries, primarily those based in Taiwan, for wafer supply, the report said.
North America accounted for 12.8 percent of the world’s wafer capacity last year, it said.
Europe is also expected to see its global share wane, accounting for 5.8 percent last year, it said.
Taiwan’s wafer capacity growth can mostly be attributed to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid increases in capacity.
TSMC aims to grow capacity by 5 percent year-on-year this year by investing a record US$15 billion to US$16 billion.
The company, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, operates three 12-inch mega fabs with annual capacity in Taiwan exceeding 8 million 12-inch wafers last year .
It is adding a fourth mega fab this year to supply customers with advanced 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer technology and beyond.
The chipmaker also owns four 8-inch fabs and one 6-inch fab in Taiwan, and operates two fabs in Nanjing and Shanghai, China.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS