Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday.
TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report.
While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders due to US tariff measures helped limit TSMC’s revenue decline in the quarter, it said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
In contrast, Samsung’s sales fell 11.3 percent sequentially to US$2.89 billion last quarter and its market share slid to 7.7 percent from 8.1 percent over the period, the report said.
TrendForce attributed Samsung’s falling sales to fewer benefits from China’s subsidy programs and the US’ export restrictions on advanced chips.
As a result, the gap between TSMC and Samsung widened to 59.9 percentage points last quarter from 59 percentage points a quarter earlier, it said.
TSMC shares closed up 1.01 percent at NT$1,005 yesterday, passing NT$1,000 for the first time since March 7, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
The report also highlighted the Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp’s (SMIC, 中芯) rising competitiveness in mature nodes, as the firm posted increases in sales and market share.
SMIC remained third in the global foundry business, with revenue of US$2.25 billion, up 1.8 percent quarterly, and a market share of 6 percent, compared with 5.5 percent the previous quarter, the report said.
Its gap with Samsung narrowed to 1.7 percentage points last quarter from 2.6 percentage points three months earlier, it added.
United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) ranked fourth, with US$1.76 billion in revenue and a 4.7 percent market share, ahead of US-based GlobalFoundries Inc in fifth place, with a revenue of US$1.58 billion and a market share of 4.2 percent, it said.
In sixth to 10th places were Huahong Group (華虹) with US$1.01 billion in revenue and 2.7 percent market share, Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) with US$363 million and 1 percent market share, Tower Semiconductor Ltd with US$358 million and 0.9 percent share, NexChip Co (晶合集成) with US$353 million and 0.9 percent, and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) with US$327 million and 0.9 percent, the report said.
The combined revenue of the top 10 wafer foundry companies fell 5.4 percent sequentially to US$36.4 billion last quarter due to seasonal weakness, although rush orders from clients and China’s consumer subsidies partially offset the slowdown in demand, TrendForce said.
For this quarter, the industry’s capacity utilization and revenue growth would be supported by China’s subsidy programs, the building of prelaunch inventories for new smartphone models, and stable demand for AI and HPC applications, although the effect of tariff-driven front-loading shipments are expected to fade for foundries.
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