IC Insights: 2015 IC Manufacturer Wafer Production Capacity Ranking

Market research firm IC Insights has released its latest report on global wafer capacity forecasts (Global Wafer Capacity 2016–2020), which includes a ranking of the world’s 25 largest IC manufacturers based on installed capacity as of December 2015. Among the top ten manufacturers, four are headquartered in the United States, two each come from South Korea and Taiwan, and one each is from Japan and Europe. These manufacturers include four of the world’s largest memory suppliers, three pure-play wafer foundries, the world’s largest microprocessor supplier, and two major analog IC suppliers.

Market research agency IC Insights Release the latest global Wafer Capacity Forecast Report (Global Wafer Capacity 2016–2020), which includes the world’s top 25. IC Manufacturer Ranking (based on installed capacity as of December 2015); among the top ten manufacturers, four are headquartered in the United States, two are from South Korea, two are from Taiwan, and one each is from Japan and Europe.

　　These manufacturers include 4 of the world’s largest memory suppliers and 3 pure… Wafer OEMs, the world’s largest suppliers of microprocessors, come in two main categories—compared to... IC The suppliers are Texas Instruments (TI) and STMicroelectronics (ST). Overall, the total installed capacity of the world’s top ten IC manufacturers amounts to 11.737 million wafers per month. Wafer ( As of the end of 2015, this accounted for 72% of global total IC production capacity, slightly up from 71% in 2014, when monthly output was 10.885 million units.

　　Looking at the performance of various manufacturers, as of December 2015, Samsung was the semiconductor company with the highest installed wafer capacity, producing 2.5 million 8-inch equivalent wafers per month—accounting for 15.5% of global total capacity. Among these, the largest volumes were produced for DRAM and flash memory. The second-largest player in terms of IC capacity was TSMC, Taiwan’s leading foundry, with a monthly production capacity of 1.9 million wafers, representing 11.6% of global total capacity.

　　In recent years, memory giant Micron has seen its IC production capacity continue to grow, primarily due to acquisitions—including capacity from Elpida, Rexchip, and Inotera. In 2013, Micron rose to become the world’s third-largest wafer manufacturer, up from sixth place in 2012. At the beginning of 2012, Micron acquired Intel’s stake in IM Flash’s wafer fabrication facilities, thereby gaining the right to utilize the capacity of those facilities.

　　As of the end of 2015, the world’s fourth-largest wafer manufacturer was Japan’s Toshiba, with a monthly production capacity of 1.3 million wafers (accounting for 8.2% of global capacity). This capacity also includes flash memory production from its joint venture partner, SanDisk. The fifth-largest manufacturer is also a memory chip maker—South Korea’s SK Hynix. The company’s production capacity exceeds 1.3 million wafers per month and accounts for 8.1% of global total capacity.

　　Intel’s wafer production capacity declined slightly in 2015 because its Fab 68 facility in China briefly halted operations during the transition from logic chip production to the manufacture of next-generation flash memory (3D NAND and XPoint memory).

2015 IC Manufacturer Wafer Production Capacity Ranking

　　 Given the soaring costs of next-generation fabs and manufacturing equipment, coupled with the growing number of IC companies shifting toward light-fab or fabless business models, IC Insights expects that in the coming years a larger share of fab capacity will be controlled by an even smaller number of semiconductor players.

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