Taiwan continues to dominate the leading edge

Taiwan is expected to hold a firm grip on advanced semiconductor manufacturing (≤ 16/14nm), according to Trendforce. The East Asian island nation currently leads the world with 68 percent of global capacity (or 80 percent when it comes to EUV-enabled processes). However, that ‘market share’ is expected to decline to 60 percent in 2027 as other regions encourage domestic capacity additions. For example, the US share of advanced process capacity is expected to increase from 12 to 17 percent, although TSMC and Samsung will account for over half of this capacity.

In overall global semiconductor manufacturing capacity, Taiwan holds approximately 46 percent of global semiconductor foundry capacity, followed by China (26 percent), South Korea (12 percent), the US (6 percent) and Japan (2 percent). As a result of government incentives and subsidies promoting local production in countries like China and the US, this is projected to decrease to 41 percent for Taiwan and 10 percent for of South Korea by 2027.

In the mature-semiconductor (≥ 28nm) domain, China is rapidly claiming market share. The Middle Kingdom is set to grab 39 percent in 2027, up from 31 percent in 2023. China is focusing aggressively on mature process technologies, particularly in response to export controls on advanced equipment by the US, Japan and the Netherlands.