Semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry is the aggregate of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductors and semiconductor devices, such as transistors and integrated circuits. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconductor devices became a viable business. The industry's annual semiconductor sales revenue has since grown to over $481 billion, as of 2018.[1]

The semiconductor industry is in turn the driving force behind the wider electronics industry,[2] with annual power electronics sales of £135 billion ($216 billion) as of 2011,[3] annual consumer electronics sales expected to reach $2.9 trillion by 2020,[4] tech industry sales expected to reach $5 trillion in 2019,[5] and e-commerce with over $29 trillion in 2017.[6] In 2019, 32.4% of the semiconductor market segment was for networks and communications devices.[7]

In 2021, the sales of semiconductors reached a record $555.9 billion, up 26.2 percent, with sales in China reaching $192.5 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. A record 1.15 trillion semiconductor units were shipped in the calendar year.[8] The semiconductor industry is projected to reach $726.73 billion by 2027.[9]

Industry structure

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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.[10]

 
Electronic integrated circuit export by country or region as of 2016, by HS4 trade classification
 
Export of discrete semiconductors as of 2016, by United Nations Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding Systems 4

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]

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.[11]

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.[12] 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.[12]

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.[12] 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.[13]

Semiconductor sales

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Sales revenue

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Annual semiconductor sales (1987–2018)
Year Revenue (nominal) Revenue (inflation) Ref.
2022 $601,694,000,000 [14]
2021 $594,952,000,000
2020 $466,237,000,000 [15]
2019 $422,237,000,000
2018 $481,090,000,000 $583,730,000,000 [1]
2017 $420,390,000,000 $522,550,000,000 [1]
2016 $345,850,000,000 $439,070,000,000 [1]
2015 $335,170,000,000 $430,830,000,000 [16]
2014 $335,840,000,000 $432,240,000,000
2013 $305,580,000,000 $399,700,000,000
2012 $291,560,000,000 $386,940,000,000
2011 $299,520,000,000 $405,680,000,000
2010 $298,320,000,000 $416,820,000,000
2009 $226,310,000,000 $321,400,000,000
2008 $280,000,000,000 $396,000,000,000
2007 $255,600,000,000 $375,600,000,000 [17]
2006 $247,700,000,000 $374,400,000,000
2005 $227,000,000,000 $354,000,000,000 [16]
2004 $213,000,000,000 $344,000,000,000
2000 $204,000,000,000 $361,000,000,000
1995 $144,000,000,000 $288,000,000,000
1992 $60,000,000,000 $130,000,000,000
1990 $51,000,000,000 $119,000,000,000
1987 $33,000,000,000 $89,000,000,000
2017 sales breakdown[1]
Industry sector Revenue Market share Ref.
Memory $124 billion 30% [18]
Logic $102.2 billion 25%
Microprocessor $63.9 billion 16%
Power semiconductors $36.8 billion 9% [19]
Total $420.39 billion 100%
2008 sales breakdown
Semiconductor type Revenue Market share Ref.
Integrated circuit chip $250 billion 89.3% [20]
Compound semiconductors $20 billion 7.1%
Power transistors $10 billion 3.6% [21]
Total $280 billion 100%

Market share

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Microprocessor market share (2022)[22]
Industry sector Market share
Computer and peripheral equipment 32.3%
Consumer electronics 21.2%
Telecommunications equipment 16.5%
Industrial electronics 14.3%
Defense and space industry 11.5%
Transportation technology 4.2%

Largest companies

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Largest semiconductor companies (annual semiconductor sales leaders)
Rank 2021[23] 2020[24] 2018[25] 2017[25] 2011[26] 2006[27] 2000[27] 1995[27] 1992[28] 1990[27] 1986[29] 1985[27] 1975[29]
1 Samsung Intel Samsung Samsung Intel Intel Intel Intel NEC NEC NEC NEC TI
2 Intel Samsung Intel Intel Samsung Samsung Toshiba NEC Toshiba Toshiba Toshiba TI Motorola
3 SK Hynix TSMC SK Hynix TSMC TSMC TI NEC Toshiba Intel Hitachi Hitachi Motorola Philips
4 Micron SK Hynix TSMC SK Hynix TI Toshiba Samsung Hitachi Motorola Intel ? Hitachi ?
5 Qualcomm Micron Micron Micron Toshiba ST TI Motorola Hitachi Motorola ? Toshiba
6 Nvidia Qualcomm Broadcom Broadcom Renesas Renesas Motorola Samsung TI Fujitsu ? Fujitsu
7 Broadcom Broadcom Qualcomm Qualcomm Qualcomm Hynix ST TI ? Mitsubishi ? Philips
8 TI Nvidia Toshiba TI ST Freescale Hitachi IBM Mitsubishi TI ? Intel
9 Mediatek TI TI Toshiba Hynix NXP Infineon Mitsubishi ? Philips ? National
10 AMD Infineon Nvidia Nvidia Micron NEC Philips Hyundai ? Panasonic ? Panasonic
Major semiconductor companies
Name Country Manufacturer type[30] Hardware products
Samsung Electronics   South Korea IDM NAND flash memory, DRAM, CMOS sensor, RF transceivers, OLED display, SSD
Intel   United States IDM x86-64 microprocessor, GPU, SSD, DRAM
TSMC   Taiwan Pure-play
SK Hynix[a]   South Korea IDM flash memory, DRAM, SSD, CMOS sensor
Micron[b]   United States IDM DRAM, NAND flash, SSD, NOR flash, Managed NAND, multichip packages
Qualcomm   United States Fabless RF module, digital signal processor, Snapdragon system on chip
Broadcom   United States Fabless Broadband/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modems, Custom DSP & ARM CPUs
Kioxia[c]   Japan IDM NAND flash memory, SSD
Texas Instruments (TI)   United States IDM Microcontroller, SoC, DSP, Amplifiers, data converters
Analog Devices[d]   United States IDM Amplifiers, data converters, audio & video products, RF & microwave, sensors, MEMS
Microchip   United States IDM Microcontrollers and analog semiconductors
NXP   Netherlands IDM PMIC, Media processor, MIFARE, LPC
MediaTek   Taiwan Fabless SoC, chipset, CPU, GPU, DSP
Infineon[e]   Germany IDM Microcontrollers and power semiconductor devices
Bosch   Germany IDM
STMicroelectronics   France/  Italy IDM ASIC, Microcontrollers
Sony   Japan IDM Active-pixel sensor, NAND flash memory
ARM   United Kingdom Fabless Microprocessor
AMD   United States Fabless x86-64 CPU, GPU, motherboard chipset, SDRAM
Nvidia   United States Fabless GPU
ON Semiconductor   United States IDM
UMC   Taiwan Pure-play
Apple   United States Fabless Apple silicon
IBM   United States Fabless IBM Power microprocessors, z/Architecture
Mitsubishi Electric   Japan IDM Power semiconductor devices
Tower Semiconductor   Israel IDM
Xilinx   United States Fabless programmable logic device
SMIC   China Pure-play
Nordic Semiconductor   Norway Fabless Bluetooth, Wifi, Low Power Cellular

Notes:

  • Pure-play foundries – 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) – They may or may not offer foundry services.
  • Fabless suppliers – They do not offer foundry services. They may or may not offer design services to third parties.


Device shipments

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Semiconductor devices (est. million manufactured units)[31]
Year Optoelectronics Sensor / Actuator MOSFET[32]
1960–2001 ? ? 2,900,000,000,000,000
2002 23,164 1,654
2003 28,955 2,482
2004 38,056 3,310
2005 44,675 4,137
2006[33] 55,429 4,137
2007[34] 67,839 4,136
2008 76,939 4,964
2009 91,003 4,964
2010 97,622 6,619
2011 110,031 8,273
2012 129,886 11,583
2013 131,541 14,064
2014–2015 ? ? 10,100,000,000,000,000
2016[35][36] 217,200 17,376
2017–2018 ? ?
1960–2018 1,112,340+ 87,699+ 13,000,000,000,000,000

Integrated circuits

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Integrated circuit chips (est. million manufactured units)[31]
Year MOS memory MPU / MCU Analog Logic ASIC ASSP Total
1960–1991 ? 15,000[37] ? ? ? ? 350,000[37]
1992[38] 3,706
1993[38] 4,060
1994[38] 4,938
1995[38] 6,092
1996[38] 6,206
1997 7,155[39] ? ? ? ? ? 60,100[34]
1998–1999 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
2000[40] ? ? ? ? ? ? 89,100
2001 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
2002 9,100 6,619 24,819 11,582 2,482 23,992 78,594
2003 10,755 6,618 30,611 14,064 1,655 25,646 89,349
2004 13,237 9,100 33,092 14,064 1,654 33,092 104,239
2005 15,719 8,273 37,229 14,891 2,481 38,056 116,649
2006[33] 18,201 10,755 43,020 18,200 2,482 45,501 141,600
2007[34] 23,992 12,409 48,811 18,201 3,309 45,502 156,000
2008 25,646 12,410 49,639 18,200 1,655 47,156 154,706
2009 28,128 11,582 43,020 14,892 2,482 43,847 143,951
2010[40] 33,919 16,546 57,084 19,028 1,654 57,911 189,800
2011 33,919 17,374 56,256 19,028 1,655 58,738 186,970
2012 34,747 17,373 57,084 17,373 1,655 57,083 185,315
2013 33,919 16,546 67,839 18,201 2,481 64,530 203,516
2014 ? 18,600[41] ? ? ? ? ?
2015 ? 22,058[42] ? ? ? ? 235,600[40]
2016[35][36] 43,440 21,174[42] 130,320 52,128 ? ? 342,416
2017 ? 25,797[42] ? ? ? ? 581,321[43]
2018 ? ? ? ? ? ? 634,700[43]
1960–2018 356,879+ 274,298+ 635,804+ 249,852+ 25,645+ 541,054+ 4,043,926+

Discrete devices

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Discrete devices (est. million manufactured units)[44][31]
Year Discrete transistors Diode Total
Power Small-signal Total
1954–1956[45] ? ? 28 ? 28+
1957[45] ? ? 30 ? 30+
1958–1962 ? ? ? ? ?
1963[45] ? ? 303 ? 303+
1964–1965 ? ? ? ? ?
1966[46] ? ? 968 ? 968+
1967[46] ? ? 881 ? 881+
1968[46] ? ? 997 ? 997+
1969[45] ? ? 1,249 ? 1,249+
1970[46] ? ? 914 ? 914+
1971[45] ? ? 881 ? 881+
1972–2001 ? ? ? ? ?
2002 ? ? ? ? 232,472
2003 ? ? ? ? 245,708
2004 ? ? ? ? 287,901
2005 ? ? ? ? 290,382
2006[33] ? ? ? ? 321,820
2007[34] ? ? ? ? 356,566
2008 ? ? ? ? 324,301
2009 ? ? ? ? 289,555
2010 53,000[47] ? 53,000+ ? 371,458
2011 45,000 110,000 155,000 143,000 356,000
2012 ? ? ? ? 345,812
2013 44,000 103,000 147,000 146,000 358,000
2014 48,000 109,000 157,000 154,000 380,000
2015[40] 52,000 107,000 159,000 150,000 372,000
2016[35] 53,300 ? 53,300+ ? 382,272
2017 58,100 ? 58,100+ ? 58,100+
2018 62,800 ? 62,800+ ? 62,800+
1954–2018 416,200+ 429,000+ 851,451+ 593,000+ 5,041,398+

Sales

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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.[30]

Rank Foundry IDM Fabless OSAT
1   Taiwan   United States   United States   Taiwan
2   United States   South Korea   Taiwan   United States
3   China   Japan   China   China
4   South Korea   European Union   European Union   Singapore
5   Israel   Taiwan   Japan   Japan

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.[30]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Formerly Hyundai Electronics.
  2. ^ Acquired Elpida Memory and Powerchip.
  3. ^ Formerly Toshiba Memory.
  4. ^ Acquired Maxim Integrated.
  5. ^ Acquired Cypress Semiconductor.

References

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