Chartered passes IBM in foundry rankings; SMIC grows 630%
By Mark LaPedus
Silicon Strategies
03/17/2004, 7:40 PM ET
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. regained its former position as the world's third largest foundry in 2003, surpassing IBM Corp.'s Microelectronics Division, according to the new rankings from IC Insights Inc. here today (March 17, 2004). (See foundry rankings in table below)
As expected, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) took the top two positions in the rankings, respectively, in terms of sales in 2003, according to IC Insights. The ranking include both pure-play and integrated device manufacturer (IDM) foundries, it was noted.
Taiwan's TSMC watched its sales jump 26 percent last year, from $4.655 billion in 2002, to $5.855 billion in 2003. Rival UMC of Taiwan saw its sales climb 27 percent, from $2.154 billion in 2002, to $2.740 billion in 2003.
The big shocker was IBM, which fell from third to fourth place in the rankings. IBM saw its foundry sales fall 27 percent last year, from $760 million in 2002, to $555 million in 2003, according to IC Insights.
Analysts believe that IBM benefited from a one-time, lucrative technology licensing deal with Singapore's Chartered back in 2002. At the same time, though, IBM has suffered from lackluster yields within its fledging foundry business, analysts said.
Ironically, Chartered climbed from fourth to third place, with $725 million in sales in 2003, up 49 percent over 2002, according to IC Insights.
Rounding out the rest of the field in order were NEC, SMIC, Hynix, and DongbuAnam. In IC Insights' rankings last year, the research firm only listed the top five foundries.
It was noted that China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) watched its sales jump a staggering 630 percent last year, from $50 million in 2002, to $365 million in 2003, according to IC Insights.
2003 top pure-play, IDM foundries
2003 rank 2002 rank Company 2003 rev. 2002 rev. % change
1 1 TSMC $5.855 billion $4.655 26%
2 2 UMC $2.74 billion $2.154 billion 27%
3 4 Chartered $725 million $485 million 49%
4 3 IBM $555 million $760 million -27%
5 5 NEC $425 million $320 million 33%
6 - SMIC $365 million $50 million 630%
7 - Hynix $340 million $245 million 39%
8 - DongbuAnam $330 million $260 million 27%
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