Global foundry market grew 16% to $46.9 bn in 2014

NEW DELHI: The worldwide semiconductor foundry market rose by 16.1 percent in 2014 to $46.9 billion in revenues, research firm Gartner says.

"2014 has been the third consecutive year when foundries have achieved impressive 16 percent revenue growth," said Samuel Wang, Research Vice-President at Gartner.

"A number of factors have made 2014 a robust year for foundries — inventory stocking in the second quarter by customers, increase of units sold in ultramobiles, the strength of the Apple's supply chain riding the success of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in the second half of the year, a conversion of integrated device manufacturer (IDM) revenue to foundry revenue and wafer demand from the early adoption of wearables."

TSMC’s market share stood at 53.7 percent, up from 49.8 percent in 2013. TSMC increased its revenue by $5 billion in just one year due to the success of advanced technologies of 28 nanometers (nm) and 20 nm. Returning to the No 2 position, United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) had $4.62 billion revenue in 2014, representing 9.9 percent of the foundry market share, thanks to its recent catch-up of 28-nm technology.

The No. 3 position went to Global foundries with $4.4 billion revenue, representing 9.4 percent of the market.

The foundry market will remain a seasonal industry due to the scheduled introduction of electronics equipment, and therefore the second and third quarters will be the strongest quarters each year.

2014 saw a big increase in foundry revenue from fabless customers while revenue from integrated device manufacturer customers remained flat. System manufacturer customers provided a boost to foundry revenue, mostly due to Apple's 20-nm business at TSMC.