The global foundry market expanded sharply in the second quarter as demand for artificial intelligence chip production surged. Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), the world's second-largest contract chipmaker, posted a slight revenue gain but lost market share, widening the gap with leader TSMC.
Combined revenue at the world's 10 largest foundries reached $53.49 billion in the second quarter, up 11.5% from the previous quarter, according to market researcher TrendForce on the 9th. The figure marked a quarterly record, driven by rising orders for AI chips from global technology giants, including Nvidia graphics processing units.
TSMC, the market leader, reported second-quarter revenue of $40.2 billion, up 12.1% from the prior quarter, for a 72.5% share. That was up slightly from 72.3% in the first quarter. The Taiwanese company kept its 3- to 5-nanometer production lines running at full capacity. Revenue from its most advanced 2-nanometer process was booked for the first time, and orders for mobile chips for Apple's new iPhone 18 series also lifted sales.
Samsung Electronics held second place with a 5.9% share, down 0.6 percentage point from 6.5% in the previous quarter, leaving it 66.6 percentage points behind TSMC. The company generated $3.26 billion in foundry revenue in the second quarter, producing base dies for its own high-bandwidth memory and winning more orders from large technology firms. But the 1.8% quarterly increase fell short of the overall market's growth rate.
China's SMIC and Hua Hong ranked third and sixth with shares of 5.4% and 2.3%, respectively. SMIC topped $3 billion in revenue and raised its share by 0.3 percentage point from the previous quarter, helped by rapidly growing demand for AI chip production at home. Taiwan's UMC placed fourth with 3.9% and U.S.-based GlobalFoundries fifth with 3.2%.
TrendForce expects revenue at the top 10 foundries to keep growing in the third quarter as tight foundry supply coincides with new smartphone launches, including the iPhone 18 series. Samsung plans to start full operations at its foundry fab in Taylor, Texas, later this year as it seeks to expand its share.
