TSMC takes 61% of global foundry market share
Counterpoint has released its global foundry market share ranking for 4Q 2023, showing that TSMC has a 61% market share driven by strong demand from AI and the restocking of smartphones.
TSMC 5nm capacity utilization was maxed out at 100%, reportedly due to demand for AI GPUs from Nvidia. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone 15 continued to drive growth at the leading 3nm node. These two sub-7nm node applications account for ~ 70% of TSMC’s total revenue for the quarter.
TSMC and Samsung are the only two firms that enjoyed an increase in market shares from the previous quarter. TSMC added 2%, Samsung Foundry the second-largest player had a 14% market share, up from 13% in the 3Q, benefiting from smartphone restocking and positive initial pre-orders for the Samsung S24 series AI smartphones.
GlobalFoundries and UMC both captured a 6% market share. SMIC’s market share slid to 5% in the 4Q of 2023.
The foundry industry’s revenues grew about 10% sequentially in the 4Q of 2023 but declined 3.5% year-to-year (Figure 1).
UMC 3DIC for RFSOI
UMC, an industry leader in RF front-end module IC solutions, has announced the industry’s first 3DIC solution for RFSOI technology.
Available on UMC’s 55nm RFSOI platform, the stacked silicon technology reduces die size by more than 45% without any degradation of radio frequency (RF) performance, enabling customers to efficiently integrate more RF components to address the greater bandwidth requirements of applications such as 5G.
UMC’s 3D IC solution for RFSOI reportedly addresses the challenge of integrating more RF front-end modules (RF-FEM) – critical components in devices to transmit and receive data –by vertically stacking dies to reduce surface area.
RFSOI is the foundry process used for RF chips such as low-noise amplifiers, switches, and antenna tuners. Utilizing wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding technology, UMC’s 3D IC solution for RFSOI resolves the common issue of RF interference between stacked dies. UMC has patented heavily in this area and this technology is now reportedly ready for production.
UMC conducted this research in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The key development involves using wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding technology, which enables the vertical stacking of dies without compromising RF performance. This method effectively resolves the issue of RF interference between stacked dies, ensuring enhanced functionality. By vertically stacking dies, the solution optimizes space utilization, accommodating more frequency bands in parallel and facilitating seamless data transmission and reception. This breakthrough technology is not only crucial for the 5G/6G era but also holds significant implications for diverse applications including mobile, IoT, and virtual reality devices.
The team claims that this not only enhances the performance of current applications but also lays the foundation for future advancements in wireless communication systems. With ongoing research and development efforts, they aim to further refine stacked die solutions to meet the evolving demands of RF technologies.
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