Samsung Electronics Narrows Market Share Gap with TSMC, the No.1 Foundry

by Song Seungseop

Published 14 Mar.2022 17:33(KST)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Samsung Electronics has narrowed the market share gap with Taiwan's TSMC, the number one semiconductor foundry company.

According to Taiwan market research firm TrendForce on the 14th, Samsung Electronics' foundry market share in the fourth quarter of last year recorded 18.3%. This is an increase of 1.1 percentage points from 17.2% in the previous quarter. TSMC's share decreased by 1.0 percentage point to 52.1%. The market share gap between the two companies decreased by 2.1 percentage points in one quarter to 33.8%.

Samsung Electronics' foundry sales increased by 15.3% compared to the previous quarter, while TSMC's growth was limited to 5.8%. Among the world's top five foundry companies, Samsung Electronics was the only one to see an increase in market share. TrendForce analyzed, "Samsung Electronics, the only company competing with TSMC in processes below 7 nanometers (nm, one billionth of a meter), saw its market share rise due to the gradual expansion of advanced processes such as 5nm and 4nm."

In TSMC's case, sales of the 5nm process increased due to the effect of new iPhone products. However, TrendForce predicted that the contraction of the Chinese smartphone market led to a decrease in sales of 7nm and 6nm processes, resulting in an overall decline in market share.

Additionally, TrendForce explained, "Although somewhat eased, the shortage of parts supply still limits overall market growth," and "the average selling price increased, leading to higher sales in the fourth quarter." Nevertheless, it forecasted that in the first quarter of this year, sales growth rate will slightly decline due to reduced operating days caused by the Lunar New Year holidays in Greater China and maintenance periods for some companies' production lines.