01/16/12
The world's leading chip maker is Taiwan
Taiwan had the most installed wafer production capacity of any country in the world for the first time ever in 2011, surpassing Japan and South Korea, according to US-based semiconductor research firm IC Insights.
As of July 2011 Taiwan held 21 percent of the world's installed wafer fabrication capacity, taking the top spot for the first time. Japan held 19.7 percent and Korea 16.8 percent, the Americas region has 14.7 percent of the IC manufacturing capacity and China, with 8.9 percent now accounts for more wafer capacity than Europe (8,2%). The figures include local manufacturing capacity regardless of the headquarters location of the companies that own the fabs. So Samsung manufacturing in Austin Texas contributes to the Americas percentage.
The growth in Taiwan's wafer capacity is the result of expansion by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC) and United Microelectronics. IC Insights indicated that Taiwan holds 25.4 percent of manufacturing on 300-mm diameter wafers, 18.7 percent of 200-mm wafer capacity, and 11.4 percent of 150-mm wafer capacity. In 2011, 300mm wafers represented 64.6% of the country's installed capacity, 200mm wafers, 29.2%; and 150mm wafers accounted for 6.1%.
Taiwan also holds the industry's largest share of capacity dedicated to "not so leading-edge" 40- to 60-nm process geometries.
