A look at the top 10 contract manufacturers with the highest sales in the chip industry once again makes it clear how unequal the distribution is. Eight manufacturers total only 27 percent, while the two industry giants claim over 70 percent of the market for themselves, and more than every second chip comes from TSMC.
TSMC remains the leader by a wide margin:
Once again, the numbers make it clear how big TSMC is. The group made more than 15 billion US dollars in one quarter by producing the chips for other companies. The world’s number two, Samsung, is only around a third of what TSMC does, but with an 18 percent share of the market, it is still as big as the three companies that follow it together.
Globalfoundries remains in 4th place
” The best of the rest “ is led by United Microelectronics Corporation ( UMC ), another contract manufacturer with Taiwanese roots. Globalfoundries ranks directly behind. The aim of the manufacturer, which currently provides the I/O die for AMD Ryzen, among other things, is to rise again to number three in the world. But both Globalfoundries and UMC have started major expansion programs in terms of capacity with simultaneous price increases, and it is not yet possible to estimate who will be able to benefit more from this in the end.
The top 5 is completed by China’s top foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. ( SMIC ). SMIC is also planning various new buildings. Due to import problems with high-quality exposure systems as a result of US sanctions, the focus here is on older processes, which are also in high demand.
9th place now belongs to Intel
Also in the top 10 is Tower Semi, the contract manufacturer that Intel recently adopted. For 5.4 billion US dollars, this was not a cheap undertaking, but Intel expects it to gain access to a market that the group has not even addressed so far. The acquisition should also help to round off and further expand the company’s own foundry business in the future.
Intel wants to invest significantly more in Tower Semi for this. CEO Pat Gelsinger explained a week ago that the contract manufacturer has only been working on an undercapitalization so far and is therefore below the possibilities. Intel wants to change that with fresh capital.
Intel itself is not included in the list because it only takes into account sales from chip contract manufacturers. When it comes to the manufacture of semiconductor products, ie also for personal use, Intel and Samsung are currently at the top.