TSMC keeps beating Samsung in the foundry market, grows share

Samsung has long had its sights on cutting TSMC’s lead in the global foundry market. TSMC has been in a commanding position for years and keeps growing its share, leaving Samsung far behind. The latest figures paint a similar picture.

Not only did TSMC manage to grow its market share in the fourth quarter of 2023, it further extended its lead over Samsung, which saw its market share slip during the same period as the company struggles to win a substantial number of orders.

Samsung trails far behind TSMC in the chipmaking segment

TSMC now accounts for more than 60% of the global semiconductor foundry market. The company saw its market share increase in Q4 2023 by 8% compared to the previous quarter whereas Samsung Electronics saw a decrease in its sales.

The numbers shared by research firm TrendForce show that TSMC now has a 61.2% share of the market. It brought in $19.6 billion in sales during the quarter, a 14% increase over the previous period, bringing TSMC’s market share back in the 60% and above range after two consecutive quarters.

Despite being the second largest contract chipmaker, Samsung trails TSMC in a distant second place with 11.3% of the share, down 1.1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. It saw $3.6 billion in sales and the gap with TSMC further widening to 49.9 percentage points compared to the previous period.

TSMC may be able to further increase its market share, establishing itself as the ultimate player in this market. Market analysts believe that its share should exceed 70% with the growth of 3nm wafer production, providing TSMC a solid edge for chipsets made on advanced nodes.