Samsung Foundry Lags as TSMC Accelerates, Widening Market Share Gap

TSMC, the world's leading foundry, further expanded its market share lead over Samsung Electronics in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven by robust demand for advanced process nodes.

According to the latest report by market research firm TrendForce released on the 11th, TSMC secured a dominant 67% market share, bolstered by strong demand from high-value sectors such as AI servers and flagship smartphone application processors (APs). In contrast, Samsung Electronics experienced a slight revenue decline due to reduced orders from key customers, posting revenues of $3.26 billion—a 1.4% quarter-over-quarter decrease—and maintaining an 8.1% market share.

The global foundry industry exhibited a polarized trend, with increased demand for advanced process nodes offsetting slower growth in mature processes. The industry's total revenue reached an all-time high, supported by surging demand for AI-related products and shifts in U.S. and Chinese economic policies.

TrendForce noted that new trade tariffs introduced under the Trump administration have started impacting the foundry sector, driving an uptick in orders for products such as TVs, PCs, and notebooks bound for the U.S. This surge is expected to persist into the first quarter of 2025. Additionally, China’s consumer subsidy program initiated in late 2024 encouraged upstream firms to restock inventory early, further stabilizing foundry demand.

Among other top foundries, SMIC ranked third with a 1.7% QoQ revenue increase to $2.2 billion, despite lower wafer shipments thanks to expanded 12-inch production capacity and optimized product mix. UMC held onto fourth place with a slight revenue drop of 0.3% to $1.87 billion, mitigated by proactive customer orders. GlobalFoundries achieved fifth place, reporting a 5.2% revenue increase to $1.83 billion, driven by higher wafer shipments despite minor ASP declines.

China’s localization policies significantly boosted Nexchip’s market share, elevating it to ninth place with revenues up 3.7% to $344 million. HuaHong Group retained sixth place, increasing revenue by 6.1% to $1.04 billion, while Tower Semiconductor maintained seventh place with revenue growth of 4.5% to $387 million despite lower fab utilization rates. VIS saw a revenue decline of 2.3% to $357 million, affected by weakening consumer demand.

PSMC fell to tenth place due to sluggish demand for memory and consumer-related chips but remained slightly ahead of Nexchip on a full-year revenue basis.