In the latest foundry rankings compiled by market research firm IC Insights and Gartner, Samsung has taken the fourth position with American and Taiwanese companies occupying the top three positions. The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co or TSMC retained its first place on the list with US-based Globalfoundries coming in second place. Taiwan’s UMC is in third place.
The data shows that TSMC's sales reached $19.9 billion as it accounted for 54.3 percent of the market, almost 5.8 times higher than Samsung's total sales which came in at $3.4 billion and gave it a market share of just 5.3 percent. TSMC is a specialist foundry without its own design, the company also produces a significant amount of processors for Apple while Samsung only does that for its main rival on a consignment basis. Samsung's position in the global foundry market could improve in the future as it brings in more clients, being the sole manufacturer of Qualcomm's latest flagship processor will certainly reflect positively on its balance sheets.
