Samsung’s Pursuit to Overtake TSMC in Foundry Market Faces Setback in Q1 Sales: TrendForce Report

It seems that Samsung Electronics’ goal to beat Taiwan’s TSMC and occupy the first place in the foundry (system semiconductor consignment production) market is not easy. In the first quarter of this year, the market share gap between Samsung Electronics and TSMC in the global foundry market widened more than in the previous quarter. The decrease in sales compared to the previous quarter was also the largest among major foundry companies.

According to Taiwanese market research firm Trend Force on the 12th, the overall foundry market was in a recession due to the deterioration in consumer sentiment and the off-season in the industry. In the first quarter of this year, the sales of the top 10 companies in the global foundry industry were $27.3 billion (35.1526 trillion won), down 18.6% from the previous quarter ($33.53 billion).

In particular, the decline in sales of Samsung Electronics, the second largest company, was significant. During the same period, Samsung Electronics’ foundry sales were $3.46 billion (4.4376 trillion won), down 36.1% from the previous quarter ($5.391 billion).

Samsung Electronics’ market share also fell from 15.8% to 12.4%. On the other hand, TSMC’s market share rose slightly from 58.5% to 60.1%, widening the market share gap by 5 percentage points from 42.7% to 47.7%.

TSMC also saw a decline in sales. However, the decline was smaller than that of Samsung Electronics, and its market share actually increased. TSMC’s sales in the first quarter were $16.735 billion, down 16.2% from the previous quarter, when it recorded $19.962 billion. Declining demand from downstream industries such as laptops and smartphones took a direct hit.

Global Foundry overtook UMC to take third place. In addition, there were changes in some rankings, with Tower Semiconductor ahead of PSMC and taking 7th place.

The foundry industry has been showing a downward trend since the second half of last year. TrendForce predicted that “the recession in the foundry market is expected to continue until the second quarter of this year,” but that “the decline in sales will be alleviated in the second half.”

[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]