Impact of US Factory Shutdown... Samsung Foundry Market Share Drops from 18% to 17%

(Data provided by TrendForce)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Samsung Electronics' market share in the global foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) market slightly declined in the first quarter of this year. The gap with industry leader Taiwan's TSMC widened following the shutdown incident at Samsung's Austin plant in Texas, USA, in February.

According to market research firm TrendForce on the 1st, Samsung Electronics' foundry revenue in the first quarter of this year was $4.108 billion (approximately 4.5537 trillion KRW), a 2% (about 76.5 billion KRW) decrease compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Its market share in the foundry sector dropped by 1 percentage point from 18% in Q4 last year to 17% in Q1 this year.

TrendForce analyzed that Samsung's revenue declined due to the shutdown of its Austin plant caused by the severe cold wave in the US in February. Samsung's semiconductor foundry plant in Austin, Texas, lost power and water supply on February 16 due to the record-breaking cold wave in the US, resulting in over a month of halted normal operations. Samsung reported damages estimated between 300 billion and 400 billion KRW.

On the other hand, TSMC recorded foundry revenue of $12.92 billion in the first quarter of this year, with a market share reaching 55%. Its revenue increased by 2% compared to the previous quarter, and its market share rose by 1 percentage point from Q4 last year. Consequently, the market share gap between Samsung Electronics and TSMC widened from 36 percentage points to 38 percentage points.

In the global foundry market, the top 10 companies recorded a combined revenue of $22.753 billion in the first quarter of this year, a 1% increase from the previous quarter. TrendForce explained that foundry revenue expanded due to increased demand for electronic devices, setting an all-time high record. Among other companies besides Samsung Electronics and TSMC, Taiwan's UMC held a 7% foundry market share, US-based GlobalFoundries had 5%, and China's SMIC also held 5%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.