Smartphones, Tablets Drive Worldwide Foundry Production Growth by 12.3%

According to DIGITIMES Research, since the first quarter of 2009 after the financial tsunami, the global foundry industry has continued to grow. Taking the top three wafer foundries in Greater China, such as TSMC, UMC, and SMIC, which accounted for about 70% of the global total market share, for example, total revenue from the first quarter of 2009 was 1.63 billion. The US dollar grew quarter by quarter to 5.11 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Due to seasonal factors, the total revenue of the top three foundries in Greater China in the first quarter of 2011 was only US$4.92 billion, a 2.8% decline from the fourth quarter of 2010, but compared with US$4.08 billion in the same period of 2010. In comparison, there is still a 25.2% annual growth rate.

In the second quarter of 2011, despite the impact of the 311 earthquake in Japan, the communications-related industry chain was affected. However, with the buoyant shipments of computer-related applications, the single-quarter revenue of the top three foundries in Greater China is still estimated at 51.4. Billion US dollars, a 4.5% increase from the first quarter, compared with the same period in 2010, the annual growth rate was only 11.5%.

In the first half of 2011, the total revenue of the top three foundries in Greater China was estimated at US$10.07 billion, an increase of 16.0% from US$8.68 billion in the same period of 2010.

Looking forward to the second half of 2011, the strong growth in demand for portable electronic products such as smart phones and tablets has led to the expansion of related US-based communication chip suppliers including Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. With regard to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and UMC Investment, plus the prosperity of the Asia-Pacific market, including emerging markets such as China, India, and Southeast Asia, it will continue to maintain strong growth. In the second half of 2011, the output value of global foundry industry will have the opportunity to grow quarter by quarter.

Driven by the North American market and the Asia-Pacific market, DIGITIMES estimates that the output value of the global foundry industry in the second half of 2011 will reach US$15.57 billion, a 12.3% growth over the second half of 2010 of US$13.86 billion.

Among them, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. will have a leading edge in advanced process technology R&D and production volume production progress, as well as a 12-inch wafer production capacity expansion rate. This will further increase TSMC's global market share in the wafer foundry industry in 2011 to 51.5%.