[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] The gap between Taiwan's TSMC, the world's No. 1 semiconductor foundry (contract manufacturing) company, and Samsung Electronics, ranked second, is hardly narrowing. Although Samsung Electronics has accelerated the development and mass production speed of ultra-fine semiconductors to close the gap, TSMC is also actively defending its position.
According to Taiwanese market research firm TrendForce on the 25th, the estimated market shares of TSMC and Samsung Electronics in the first quarter of this year were 56% and 18%, respectively, with a difference of 38 percentage points between the two companies. The gap in market share between the two companies was 38.2 percentage points in the first quarter of last year, significantly narrowing to 32.7% in the second quarter of the same year, but then widened again to 36.5% in the third quarter and 39.2% in the fourth quarter, and is estimated to slightly decrease this quarter.
Based on estimated sales for the first quarter of this year, the gap is expected to widen somewhat compared to a year ago. TSMC is expected to achieve sales of $12.91 billion, a 25% increase from the same period last year, while Samsung Electronics, ranked second, is projected to have foundry sales of $4.042 billion in the first quarter, an 11% increase year-on-year. Accordingly, the sales gap between the two companies, which was $6.65 billion in the first quarter of last year, is expected to widen to $8.858 billion in the first quarter of this year.
UMC of Taiwan and GlobalFoundries of the United States, ranked third in foundry market share, are expected to hold 7% each in the first quarter of this year, while China's SMIC is expected to have 5%. TSMC and Samsung Electronics are expected to continue competing in the foundry industry’s "top two" structure, including the development of ultra-fine semiconductors. Samsung Electronics plans to significantly expand foundry production capacity by operating the new extreme ultraviolet (EUV) process line at Pyeongtaek Plant 2 (P2) earlier than originally planned, aiming to surpass TSMC. Samsung Electronics recently expressed confidence, stating that it is competing with TSMC in a dual leadership structure in advanced processes.
Meanwhile, the combined sales of the world's top 10 semiconductor foundry companies in the first quarter of this year are estimated to have increased by 20% year-on-year to $22.59 billion.
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