Taipei, Taiwan–(BUSINESS WIRE)–According to TrendForce research, although demand for consumer electronics remains weak, demand for structural growth in the semiconductor industry, including for servers, high-performance computing, automotive and industrial equipment, has not faltered, becoming a key driver for the medium and long term growth of the foundry. Meanwhile, due to robust wafer production at higher prices in 1Q22, quarterly production value hit a new high for the 11th consecutive quarter, reaching $31.96 billion, 8.2 % QoQ, slightly less than in the previous quarter. In terms of rankings, the biggest change is that Nexchip overtook Tower in ninth position.

Samsung Hit by Extreme Cooling in Terminal Market Demand, Only Company in Top Ten to Show Lower Revenues

Wafer increases across the board at TSMC in 4Q21 on batches primarily produced in 1Q22, coupled with continued strong demand for high-performance computing and better exchange rates, pushed TSMC’s 1Q22 revenue to $17.53 billion, up 11.3% quarter-on-quarter. Quarterly revenue growth per node was typically around 10% and 7/6nm and 16/12nm processes saw the highest growth rate due to small production expansions. The only case of declining revenue came at the 5/4nm process due to Apple’s iPhone 13 entering the off-season for production storage.

Demand for System LSI CIS and driver ICs weakened due to sluggish TV and smartphone markets. Additionally, the expansion of 4nm production and the rate of yield improvement is not progressing as quickly as expected. Number two Samsung was the only foundry to post negative growth in 1Q22, with revenue of $5.33 billion, down 3.9% quarter-on-quarter. Samsung’s market share also fell to 16.3%. UMC also benefited from higher wafer prices and its revenue reached $2.26 billion, a 6.6% increase QoQ, ranking third. However, new UMC capacity has not yet come online in 1Q22, so the proportion of revenue contributed by various processes remains roughly in line with that of 4Q21.

GlobalFoundries, ranked fourth, reported revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, up 5.0% quarter-on-quarter. As wafer shipments were roughly the same as the prior quarter, the growth was primarily driven by ASP adjustment and product mix optimization. Additionally, as one of the leading wafer foundries in the United States, GlobalFoundries has a long history of contributing to the production of “Made in America” ​​chips for national security and aerospace-related applications. In the short term, it plans to produce 45nm SOI processing products to support the operation of defense and aerospace systems. The first batch of production chip shipments are expected to begin in 2023. SMIC has benefited from a recent increase in wafer shipments due to the smooth rollout of production capacity. At the same time, its product portfolio has gradually shifted to structurally short products such as consumer PMICs, AMOLED DDIs, industrial equipment and automotive PMICs and MCUs, driving continued growth in revenue with 1Q22 revenue reaching $1.84 billion, QoQ growth of 16.6%, ranking fifth.

Nexchip is actively expanding its production by ousting Tower, three major Chinese players account for more than 10% of the market

HuaHong Group, PSMC and VIS, ranked sixth to eighth respectively, all benefited from the continued utilization of full capacity, new capacity and adjustment of ASP and product mix to increase revenue performance. Nexchip’s 1Q22 revenue reached $443 million, a quarterly increase of 26.0%, the highest growth rate among the top ten, overtook Tower to move up to ninth place and reduce the market share gap between it and the eighth-ranked VIS. According to TrendForce, Nexchip is currently focusing on producing 0.1Xμm and 90nm large size display driver ICs. In 2022, it will push the expansion of production, aiming to supplement the capacity of its N2 factory campus. At the same time, to reduce the potential risk of downturn in any individual market, Nexchip has also accelerated the development of several product platforms such as TDDI, CIS, MCU and PMIC. At present, Nexchip has partnered with SmartSens to successfully develop 90nm CIS products that can contribute to non-conductive IC revenue after mass production.

Ranked tenth, Tower benefited from a relative dearth of analog chips for industrial control and automotive applications. Its 1Q22 revenue reached $421 million, up 2.2% quarter-on-quarter. In order to maintain its advantages in the field of PMIC process technologies, the company is also actively exploring the application of PMIC technology in the short term, developing higher voltage tolerances and effectively reduced chip size, so as to provide high-performance computing processors and GPUs, as well as the power management needs of automotive and industrial controls. Regarding the foundry market in 2Q22, TrendForce expects the output value of the top ten foundries to maintain a growth trend as the capacity of a small number of foundries increases to drive growth. overall shipments in the second quarter. However, as demand for consumer end products continues to decline and the contributions of higher priced wafers were largely reflected in 1Q22, the quarterly growth rate will contract once again.

For more details on this press release, including a chart showing the top ten global foundry revenue rankings, please visit:

https://www.trendforce.com/presscenter/news/20220620-11262.html

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TrendForce is a global provider of the latest technology industry developments, information and analysis. Serving businesses for over a decade, the company has built a solid membership base of 500,000 subscribers. TrendForce has earned a reputation as an organization that offers insightful and accurate analysis of the technology industry through five major research departments: Semiconductor Research, Display Research, Optoelectronics Research , green energy research and ICT applications research. Founded in Taipei, Taiwan in 2000, TrendForce has expanded its presence in China since 2004 with offices in Shenzhen and Beijing.