The wars at the leading edge have begun

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TSMC and Samsung seem destined to claim the throne for themselves, but Intel still feels it can catch up. How many leading-edge semiconductor manufacturers will be left standing at the end of this decade?

bits-chips.nl, Jun. 30, 2021 – 

Semiconductors have always made for an exciting industry. The cutting-edge R&D fueling innovation at a back-breaking pace, the enormous upfront investments and the brutal competition make for a game that's thoroughly enjoyable to watch. At the leading edge, the stakes have never been higher than they're right now, though.

The investment and operational excellence required to implement the most advanced process technologies for logic devices has driven out all but three companies from the semiconductor's Premier League. The multibillion-dollar question is how many players will still be left standing at the end of this decade.

Having obtained technological leadership and, according to one estimate, already manufacturing 92 percent of the world's leading-edge foundry chips, TSMC's future seems secure. Samsung should be able to hang on, but Intel has a mountain to climb.

Destined

Right now, Samsung is TSMC's only competitor for contract manufacturing of leading-edge chips. The Korean company started to offer foundry services in the mid-2000s, as it realized that only the largest chipmakers will survive in the long term. Despite an unprecedented spending spree over the past few years, however, it hasn't managed to close the gap with TSMC. Technologically, the Koreans are not that far behind the Taiwanese, but the latter's market share across all nodes is more than three times higher (55 percent versus 17 percent in 2020), according to data from Trendforce.

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