Global Semiconductor Foundry Market Grows 29% in Q2 on AI Demand

SEOUL, Aug. 28 (Yonhap) -- The global pure-play semiconductor foundry market grew 29 percent on-year in the second quarter, driven by a massive boom in artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand, an industry report showed Friday.

Counterpoint Research said AI-related orders and capacity reallocation remain key drivers of supply-demand imbalances in both advanced and mature nodes.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) remained the market leader with a 73 percent share in the cited period, taking the top spot for two consecutive quarters.

Counterpoint Research attributed TSMC's strong performance largely to the mass production of chips using its 2-nanometer process, the expansion of 3-nanometer production, and supply shortages in mature 8-inch and 12-inch processes as well as advanced packaging.

Samsung Electronics Co. maintained the No. 2 spot, with its market share remaining relatively unchanged from the previous quarter.

Samsung Foundry's major target is still on improving SF2's yield rate. However, demand from SF4 and SF5 is also a key driver of revenue growth in addition to the foundry wafer price increase in the first half of the year.