A recent report indicates that Samsung Electronics revenue has shown a slightly upward growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to TSMC in the foundry market globally.
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According to the report, the shares of South Korean chipmakers rose 1.1 percent to 18.3 percent during the October-December period, while major market player Taiwan’s TSMC fell to 52.1 percent from 1 percent, according to market analyst Trendforce.
Moreover, the Samsung foundry business grew by 15.3 percent compared to the previous quarter, while the TSMC quarterly growth rate was 5.8 percent. The contract chipmaker Samsung was the only company in the industry to increase its market share year-on-year in the fourth quarter.
As per the TrendForce, the attributed Samsung’s growth to “gradual completion of new advanced 5/4nm process capabilities and massive production of new flagship products from major client Qualcomm”.
During a conference call following the fourth-quarter earnings results in late January, Samsung reported record-high earnings for the quarter, without providing detailed statistics on its foundry business. Overall, the global output from the world’s top 10 foundries reached US $29.55 billion in the three months ended December, up 8.3 percent from the third quarter.
The industry is expected to continue its growth in the first quarter of this year, partly due to the rise in wafer prices. But the first-quarter growth rate will be slightly lower than the previous quarter as the Greater China region has more lunar New Year holidays and fewer foundations with annual maintenance work.
Samsung is set to build a new chip manufacturing plant in Taylor, Texas to expand its foundry business and increase chip production. Construction will begin sometime in the first quarter, with mass production set to begin at the end of 2024. And, TSMC is also building a plant in Arizona and is looking to build more plants in the U.S.
