Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained its top position in the global wafer foundry business in the fourth quarter of last year and widened its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report on Monday.
TSMC posted US$26.85 billion in sales in the October-to-December period, up 14.1 percent from the previous quarter, which lifted its market share to 67.1 percent, up from 64.7 percent in the prior quarter, the Taipei-based market researcher said.
In contrast, Samsung’s sales fell 1.4 percent sequentially to US$3.26 billion last quarter and its market share slid to 8.1 percent from 9.1 percent over the period, the report said.
Photo: Bloomberg
That widened the gap between the two companies to 59 percentage points last quarter from 55.6 percentage points a quarter earlier.
TrendForce attributed TSMC’s growth to persistent demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related chips and advanced packaging services, in addition to steady orders for chips used in high-end smartphones and new PC platforms.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s revenue fell as order gains from new clients for advanced-node chips did not fully offset declines in orders from major existing clients due to rising competition in mature nodes from Chinese rivals, the report said.
China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (中芯) came in third with US$2.21 billion in revenue last quarter and a market share of 5.5 percent, narrowing its gap with Samsung to 2.6 percentage points from 3.1 percentage points in the previous quarter, the report said.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) ranked fourth with US$1.87 billion in revenue and a 4.7 percent market share, ahead of US-based GlobalFoundries Inc with US$1.83 billion in revenue and a 4.6 percent market share, the report showed.
In sixth to 10th places were China’s Huahong Group (華虹) with US$1.04 billion in revenue and a 2.6 percent market share; Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd with US$387 million and 1 percent market share; Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) with US$357 million and 0.9 percent; China’s NexChip Co (晶合集成) with US$344 million and 0.9 percent; and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) with US$333 million and 0.8 percent, the report added.
The combined revenue of the top 10 wafer foundry companies reached a fresh record high of US$38.48 billion last quarter, up 9.9 percent from US$35.01 billion in the previous quarter, as strong demand for advanced-node chips for AI servers, flagship smartphone application processors and new PC platforms helped offset the slowdown in demand for mature-node chips, TrendForce said.
As the industry’s momentum remains largely unchanged, overall foundry revenue this quarter is forecast to decline slightly from last quarter, despite the beginning of a year being a seasonally weak quarter for foundries, TrendForce added.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
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