Samsung Foundry has experienced a significant decline in its market position, particularly after a disappointing fourth quarter in 2024. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, continues to dominate the industry with a market share of 67.1%, according to recent data from TrendForce.
TSMC’s impressive client roster includes major names like Apple, Nvidia, AMD, MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Broadcom, which contributes to its robust growth. In contrast, Samsung Foundry saw its market share decrease from 9.1% to 8.1% during the same period.
This drop can be attributed to issues with production yields on its advanced chips, which led to a reliance on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor for the Galaxy S25 series. Unless there is a significant improvement in production yields, Samsung faces challenges in getting the 2nm Exynos 2600 application processor ready for its next flagship, the Galaxy S26, especially given the current yields sit at only 30%.
The gap between TSMC and Samsung Foundry has widened from 55.6% in Q3 to 59% in Q4, highlighting TSMC’s growing supremacy. With increasing demand for AI-related chips, particularly Nvidia’s GPUs produced by TSMC, the foundry is well-positioned to capitalize on this trend.
Additionally, TSMC is set to manufacture high-end smartphone chips for major brands, further strengthening its market presence. Meanwhile, SMIC, China’s leading foundry, ranks third behind Samsung Foundry, although it faces its own challenges due to U.S. sanctions that restrict access to advanced manufacturing technology.
In terms of revenue, TSMC recorded $26.85 billion in Q4 2024, reflecting a 14.1% increase from the previous year, while Samsung Foundry reported a decline to $3.26 billion, down 1.4%.