According to TrendForce's newest study, the worldwide foundry business showed a split trend in the last quarter of 2024. High-end process nodes had strong demand from AI servers, top smartphone processors, and new PC platforms, driving up shipments of expensive wafers and helping balance out the slowdown in older process demand. The top 10 foundries grew their revenue by almost 10% compared to the previous quarter. They hit a whopping $38.48 billion, setting another industry record.
TrendForce points out that recent U.S. trade taxes under Trump have begun impacting foundries. There was a jump in orders for American-bound TVs, PCs, and laptops in Q4 2024. This is likely to continue into the first quarter of 2025. Plus, China started a consumer subsidy program in late 2024. It has led to early stock-ups among upstream customers. Demand for TSMC's AI chips and advanced packaging is also staying strong. All of this suggests that even though Q1 is usually a slow season, foundry revenue will only dip a little.
TSMC's wafer shipments grew quarter-over-quarter, pushing its revenue to $26.85 billion. It captured a 67% market share, staying in the lead. Samsung Foundry came in second. Its revenue slipped 1.4% versus the previous quarter to $3.26 billion. That's an 8.1% market share. New advanced-node customers couldn't fully make up for losing orders from big existing clients. So its sales fell slightly.
SMIC dealt with customers adjusting their inventories, which reduced its wafer shipments. However, ramping up the new 12-inch capacity and optimizing its product mix boosted its average selling prices, which offset the losses. As a result, SMIC's revenue rose 1.7% quarter-over-quarter to $2.2 billion. It took a 5.5% market share and the third spot.
UMC benefited from customers placing orders early. This kept its capacity use and shipments above expectations, softening the blow of lower average selling prices. UMC's revenue dipped just 0.3% versus the prior quarter to $1.87 billion, putting it in fourth place. GlobalFoundries had higher wafer shipments and held onto fifth place. However, slight declines in average selling prices partially offset its revenue growth. Its revenue increased 5.2% quarter-over-quarter to $1.83 billion.
HuaHong Group ranked sixth. Its Q4 revenue climbed 6.1% from the previous quarter to $1.04 billion. HHGrace's 12-inch fabs saw small improvements in capacity use, which drove up wafer shipments and average selling prices. At the same time, HLMC got a boost from China's home appliance subsidy program and inventory restocking, further lifting utilization rates.
Tower Semiconductor kept its seventh-place ranking. Its revenue grew 4.5% quarter-over-quarter to $387 million. Higher average selling prices made up for lower fab utilization rates. VIS ranked eighth, posting a 2.3% revenue decline from the prior quarter to $357 million. Weaker consumer demand was to blame, though average selling price growth partly offset shipment drops.
Among the top 10 foundries, only Nexchip moved up in the rankings this quarter. It rose to ninth place with 3.7% quarter-over-quarter revenue growth to $344 million. It faced weaker demand for panel-related display driver ICs. But its CMOS image sensor and power management IC shipments kept its growth momentum going. PSMC fell to tenth place. Weaker demand for memory foundry and consumer-related chips hurt it. However, looking at the full year, PSMC's total revenue was still a bit higher than Nexchip's.
TrendForce points out that recent U.S. trade taxes under Trump have begun impacting foundries. There was a jump in orders for American-bound TVs, PCs, and laptops in Q4 2024. This is likely to continue into the first quarter of 2025. Plus, China started a consumer subsidy program in late 2024. It has led to early stock-ups among upstream customers. Demand for TSMC's AI chips and advanced packaging is also staying strong. All of this suggests that even though Q1 is usually a slow season, foundry revenue will only dip a little.
TSMC's wafer shipments grew quarter-over-quarter, pushing its revenue to $26.85 billion. It captured a 67% market share, staying in the lead. Samsung Foundry came in second. Its revenue slipped 1.4% versus the previous quarter to $3.26 billion. That's an 8.1% market share. New advanced-node customers couldn't fully make up for losing orders from big existing clients. So its sales fell slightly.
SMIC dealt with customers adjusting their inventories, which reduced its wafer shipments. However, ramping up the new 12-inch capacity and optimizing its product mix boosted its average selling prices, which offset the losses. As a result, SMIC's revenue rose 1.7% quarter-over-quarter to $2.2 billion. It took a 5.5% market share and the third spot.
UMC benefited from customers placing orders early. This kept its capacity use and shipments above expectations, softening the blow of lower average selling prices. UMC's revenue dipped just 0.3% versus the prior quarter to $1.87 billion, putting it in fourth place. GlobalFoundries had higher wafer shipments and held onto fifth place. However, slight declines in average selling prices partially offset its revenue growth. Its revenue increased 5.2% quarter-over-quarter to $1.83 billion.
HuaHong Group ranked sixth. Its Q4 revenue climbed 6.1% from the previous quarter to $1.04 billion. HHGrace's 12-inch fabs saw small improvements in capacity use, which drove up wafer shipments and average selling prices. At the same time, HLMC got a boost from China's home appliance subsidy program and inventory restocking, further lifting utilization rates.
Tower Semiconductor kept its seventh-place ranking. Its revenue grew 4.5% quarter-over-quarter to $387 million. Higher average selling prices made up for lower fab utilization rates. VIS ranked eighth, posting a 2.3% revenue decline from the prior quarter to $357 million. Weaker consumer demand was to blame, though average selling price growth partly offset shipment drops.
Among the top 10 foundries, only Nexchip moved up in the rankings this quarter. It rose to ninth place with 3.7% quarter-over-quarter revenue growth to $344 million. It faced weaker demand for panel-related display driver ICs. But its CMOS image sensor and power management IC shipments kept its growth momentum going. PSMC fell to tenth place. Weaker demand for memory foundry and consumer-related chips hurt it. However, looking at the full year, PSMC's total revenue was still a bit higher than Nexchip's.
