USA holds 55% of total global IC market for IDMs & fabless

In this example, Samsung’s sales from its fabrication facility in Austin, Texas, are counted as sales from South Korean companies, and Intel’s sales from its fabs in China, Ireland, and Israel are included among U.S. companies. South Korean companies captured an 18% share and Japanese companies placed third with a 9% share. Chinese companies accounted for only 3% of total IC sales in 2014.

Among IDMs, U.S.-headquartered companies accounted for slightly over half of worldwide sales followed by companies based in South Korea, Japan, and Europe. Taiwan companies (not including foundries) held only a 2% share. Over the next couple of years, NXP’s purchase of Freescale (expected to close later this year) and Infineon’s purchase of IR will likely boost the European share of worldwide IDM IC sales by a few percentage points at the expense of U.S. share. In contrast, Europe is expected to lose fabless IC company marketshare in the next few years due to Qualcomm’s acquisition of CSR, Europe’s second-largest fabless IC supplier, and Intel’s purchase of Lantiq, Europe’s third-largest fabless IC supplier.

U.S. companies held the dominant share of fabless IC sales last year, although its share was down from 69% in 2010. The largest increase in fabless IC marketshare came from Chinese companies, which held a 9% share in 2014 compared to only 5% in 2010.