East Asia dominates global 300mm fab industry

According to recent industry research from IC Insights, South Korea-based companies Samsung and SK Hynix currently account for 35% of global 300mm wafer capacity, Samsung alone controlling about 24% of world 300mm capacity. When looking at 300mm wafer capacity according to fab location instead of headquarters location, 28% is located in South Korea.

Samsung and SK Hynix both own large 300mm fabs outside of South Korea, with SK Hynix’s largest fab located in China. Samsung also owns a 300mm fab in China, as well as two in the United States. Taiwanese companies currently manage 21% of the world’s 300mm capacity, with about 85% of that capacity being committed to foundry services. The remaining 15% of Taiwan-controlled 300mm capacity is mostly used to produce memory devices.

The vast majority of the 300mm wafer capacity in Taiwan is owned by Taiwanese companies, with the only exception being the 300mm capacity that U.S.-based Micron gets from its Inotera joint-venture with Nanya and its wholly owned fab in Taichung acquired in 2013. There is only one Taiwanese-controlled 300mm fab located outside of Taiwan, and that is UMC’s fab in Singapore.

Even though 15% of the world’s 300mm wafer capacity is located in North America, 28% of global 300mm capacity is controlled by companies with North American headquarters. Two other noticeable share differences in the comparison (pictured) are in China and the ROW region, which in this case is essentially just Singapore and Israel. The vast majority of 300mm wafer capacity in China and ROW is controlled by foreign companies.