IBM, Samsung, TowerJazz Jump in Foundry Rankings
By Mark LaPedus
IBM Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., TowerJazz Inc. and an unlikely company, Powerchip Semiconductor Corp., gained ground in the foundry rankings in 2011, according to a new report from Gartner Inc.
Dongbu HiTek lost ground, according to the rankings. The worldwide semiconductor foundry market totaled $29.8 billion in 2011, a 5.1 percent increase from 2010, according to Gartner.
In the rankings, there were no changes among the top four suppliers from 2010 to 2011. In terms of sales in 2011, the top four vendors in order were Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), GlobalFoundries Inc. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC).
However, two vendors – UMC and SMIC – lost share. Another vendor, TowerJazz, moved up one spot into fifth place, according to Gartner. IBM jumped from eighth to sixth place, while Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp. (VISC) remained in seventh.
Dongbu fell from fifth to eighth place, but Samsung went from 10th to ninth. Gartner did not include Samsung’s business with Apple, of which it considers ASICs. Samsung’s foundry, with $470 million in revenue, ranked No. 9.
“However, Samsung Electronics had been very aggressively expanding its LSI business in 2011. Had the estimated $1 billion Apple wafer business been included in its foundry revenue, Samsung would rank as high as No. 4 in the foundry ranking,” according to Gartner. According to IC Insights Inc., however, Samsung jumped one place to 4th in the foundry rankings in 2011.
Powerchip was 10th in Gartner’s rankings. “Powerchip had a nearly threefold increase in foundry revenue in one year due to the strategic decision to shift from the commodity DRAM business to foundry in early 2011,” according to the firm. Powerchip makes DRAM for Elpida and analog chips for Maxim.
“Thanks to stable media tablet and mobile phone sales, a slide of the semiconductor and foundry revenue in 2011 was prevented,” said Samuel Tuan Wang, research director at Gartner. “After 40.5 percent growth from 2009 to 2010, the foundry market maintained relatively flat business in 2011 due to the weakness in PC production and an overall consumer demand hit, as well as a leaner inventory practice by customers that started in mid-2011.”
