semiconductor industry

The global semiconductor industry is dominated by companies from the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the Netherlands, with Israel and Germany having significant presence in the field.{{Cite web |title=Semiconductor Manufacturing by Country 2024 |url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/semiconductor-manufacturing-by-country |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=worldpopulationreview.com}}

File:Who exported Electronic integrated circuits in 2016.svg

File:Who exported Semiconductor devices in 2016.svg

Unique features of the industry include continuous growth but in a cyclical pattern with high volatility. While the current 20-year annual average growth of the semiconductor industry is on the order of 13%, this has been accompanied by equally above-average market volatility, which can lead to significant if not dramatic cyclical swings. This has required the need for high degrees of flexibility and innovation in order to constantly adjust to the rapid pace of change in the market as many products embedding semiconductor devices often have a very short life cycle.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

At the same time, the rate of constant price-performance improvement in the semiconductor industry is staggering. As a consequence, changes in the semiconductor market not only occur extremely rapidly but also anticipate changes in industries evolving at a slower pace. The semiconductor industry is widely recognized as a key driver and technology enabler for the whole electronics value chain.Staff, ReportLinker. “[http://www.reportlinker.com/p01360863-summary/Global-Semiconductor-Market-Outlook-to.html Global Semiconductor Market Outlook 2022] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923220803/http://www.reportlinker.com/p01360863-summary/Global-Semiconductor-Market-Outlook-to.html |date=2016-09-23 }}.” January 13, 2016. February 19, 2016.

Prior to the 1980s, the semiconductor industry was vertically integrated. Semiconductor companies both designed and manufactured chips in their own facilities. In many cases, this included inventing new processes, refining and purifying source chemicals and silicon wafers, and even manufacturing equipment, like furnaces, lithography tools and etchers. These companies also carried out the assembly and testing of their chips. Over time, many of these functions were outsourced, such that today semiconductor manufacturers rely on a complex supply chain to provide wafers, high purity source chemicals, and processing equipment. Further, starting with LSI in 1969, the industry has seen the emergence of Fabless Semiconductor Companies that focus solely on chip design and rely on other companies to manufacture their designs. Initially, these other companies were integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), companies that also designed and manufactured their own products, and thus were often competitors of the Fabless companies. But, by the mid-1980's TSMC and UMC emerged as foundries, specializing solely in the manufacture of other companies' designs.

Today, much of the industry is based on the foundry model, which consists of semiconductor fabrication plants (foundries) and integrated circuit design operations, each belonging to separate companies or subsidiaries. Some companies, known as integrated device manufacturers, both design and manufacture semiconductors. The foundry model has resulted in consolidation among foundries. As of 2021, only three firms are able to manufacture the most advanced semiconductors: TSMC of Taiwan, Samsung of South Korea, and Intel of the United States.{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/business/2021/01/23/chipmaking-is-being-redesigned-effects-will-be-far-reaching| issn = 0013-0613| title = Chipmaking is being redesigned. Effects will be far-reaching| newspaper = The Economist| date = 2021-01-23}} Part of this is due to the high capital costs of building foundries. TSMC's latest factory, capable of fabricating 3 nm process semiconductors and completed in 2020, cost $19.5 billion.

Intel is considering outsourcing some production to TSMC. It currently can only produce 10 nm semiconductors, while TSMC and Samsung can both produce 5 nm. GlobalFoundries, an American-headquartered firm, uses a 12 nm process for its most advanced chips due to the rapidly increasing development costs of smaller process nodes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/13277/globalfoundries-stops-all-7nm-development|title=GlobalFoundries Stops All 7nm Development: Opts to Focus on Specialized Processes}}

{{See also|Foundry model#Foundry sales leaders by year|l1=Foundry sales leaders by year}}

Notes:

• Pure-play foundries {{ndash}} They specialize in foundry services. They may or may not offer design services to third parties, as well as mask (photomask) making, semiconductor packaging and testing services, which can also be outsourced to other companies. An example is TSMC, which offers design, testing and packaging services, TCE photomasks, which offers only mask making services, and ChipMOS, which offers only packaging and testing services.
• IDMs (integrated device manufacturers) {{ndash}} They may or may not offer foundry services.
• Fabless suppliers {{ndash}} They do not offer foundry services. They may or may not offer design services to third parties.

{{Further|List of best-selling electronic devices}}

|-

!2016{{cite news |last1=Manners |first1=David |title=Semi units to hit a trillion next year |url=https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/semi-units-hit-trillion-next-year-2017-03/ |access-date=15 October 2019 |work=Electronics Weekly |date=10 March 2017}}{{cite news |title=Research Report on China Integrated Circuit Industry, 2018-2022: In 2017, Sales Value of Local IC Companies Reached Approximately USD 80.15 Billion |url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/05/08/1498129/0/en/Research-Report-on-China-Integrated-Circuit-Industry-2018-2022-In-2017-Sales-Value-of-Local-IC-Companies-Reached-Approximately-USD-80-15-Billion.html |access-date=15 October 2019 |work=GlobeNewswire |date=8 May 2018}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:868800*0.25}}|}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:868800*0.02}}|}}

|-

!2017{{ndash}}2018

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|-

! 1960{{ndash}}2018

! 1,112,340+

! 87,699+

! 13,000,000,000,000,000

|}

|21,174

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:868800*0.15}}|}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:868800*0.06}}|}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:377000/1.101 round 0}}|}}

|-

!2017

|{{?}}

|25,797

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:(417600/1.108)+(217100/1.062) round 0}}|}}{{cite news|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-and-china-578-bn-integrated-circuit-industries-markets-2014-2018--2019-2023-300862541.html|title=Global and China $578 Bn Integrated Circuit Industries Markets, 2014-2018 & 2019-2023|date=June 5, 2019|work=PR Newswire|access-date=24 October 2019|publisher=Research and Markets}}

|-

!2018

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:417600+217100}}|}}

|-

! 1960{{ndash}}2018

! 356,879+

! 274,298+

! 635,804+

! 249,852+

! 25,645+

! 541,054+

! 4,043,926+

|}

|{{?}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:58800/1.11 round -2}}|}}+

|{{?}}

|371,458

|-

!2011

|45,000

|110,000

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:45000+110000}}|}}

|143,000

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:143000+110000+4000+45000+54000}}|}}

|-

!2012

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|{{?}}

|345,812

|-

!2013

|44,000

|103,000

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:44000+103000}}|}}

|146,000

|358,000

|-

!2014

|48,000

|109,000

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:48000+109000}}|}}

|154,000

|380,000

|-

!2015

|52,000

|107,000

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:52000+107000}}|}}

|150,000

|372,000

|-

!2016

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:62800/1.08/1.09 round -2}}|}}

|{{?}}

|53,300+

|{{?}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:868800*0.44}}|}}

|-

!2017

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:62800/1.08 round -2}}|}}

|{{?}}

|58,100+

|{{?}}

|58,100+

|-

!2018

|62,800

|{{?}}

|62,800+

|{{?}}

|62,800+

|-

! 1954{{ndash}}2018

! 416,200+

! 429,000+

! 851,451+

! 593,000+

! 5,041,398+

|}

Manufacturers headquartered in the following places are the sales leaders in the pure-play foundry, IDM (integrated device manufacturing), fabless manufacturing and OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing) sectors of the industry.

Manufacturers headquartered in the United States have fabrication plants across the world, including over 50% in the Americas, 39% in the Asia-Pacific region (including 9% in Japan), and 9% in Europe.

• Electronic design automation
• List of EDA companies
• List of semiconductor fabrication plants
• Semiconductor consolidation
• Semiconductor device fabrication
• Semiconductor fabrication plant
• Semiconductor Industry Association
• Semiconductor industry in India
• Semiconductor industry in Japan
• Semiconductor industry in Taiwan
• Semiconductor industry in China
• Semiconductor industry in South Korea
• Transistor count

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• [http://www.jestr.org/downloads/Volume15Issue1/fulltext141512022.pdf "The Silicon Age: Trends in Semiconductor Devices Industry]", 2022

{{DEFAULTSORT:Semiconductor Industry}}

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Category:Industries (economics)