TSMC retains No. 1 ranking in world foundry industry: IC Insight

The company last year had sales of US$17.167 billion, a growth of 18 percent from 2011 and the highest among contract chipmakers, the report said.

GlobalFoundries, meanwhile, ranked No. 2 with revenue of US$4.56 billion, a year-on-year increase of 31 percent. Despite its No. 2 position, its sales figure was about 30 percent of TSMC's.

What caught IC Insight's attention, meanwhile, was the performance of Samsung, which officially entered the contract-manufacturing circle and reported sales of US$4.33 billion last year, an increase of 98 percent from 2011. With that figure, Samsung became the world's No. 3 made-to-order chipmaker by sales, surpassing United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), which reported 2012 sales of US$3.73 billion, ranking No. 4.

UMC, formerly the world's No. 2, now sees sales of about 20 percent of TSMC, according to the report.

According to IC Insights, Samsung's 300-millimeter wafer monthly capacity hit 150,000 in the fourth quarter of 2012. Based on the unit price of US$3,000 per wafer, Samsung has the potential of making US$5.4 billion in annual sales. As such, the company has a shot at overtaking GlobalFoundries as the world's No. 2 this year, IC Insights predicted.

With Samsung becoming bigger and more powerful, all eyes will be watching what TSMC will have to say about this during its quarterly investors' meeting today. Yesterday, TSMC closed at NT$99.2, down 1.29 percent.

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