TSMC Captures Biggest Share In Global Smartphone Chip Market In Q1: Counterpoint Research

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) captured nearly 70 per cent share of the global smartphone chipset market in Q1.

TSMC is more than double Samsung in terms of manufacturing scale and market share. Image: Getty

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) captured nearly 70 per cent share of the global smartphone chipset market in Q1, followed by Samsung Foundry at 30 per cent market share, a new report has said. TSMC captured the market from the complete System-on-Chip (SoC) to discrete Application Processors (AP) and cellular modems, reports Counterpoint Research.

Global smartphone chipset shipment declined 5 per cent (on-year) in Q1 due to seasonality, weaker demand in China amid lockdowns and over shipping from some chipset vendors in Q4 2021. However, this decline was offset by strong growth in the chipset revenues which grew a healthy 23 per cent YoY in Q1 2022, as the chipset mix shifted towards costlier 5G smartphones.

"TSMC and Samsung Foundry together control the entire smartphone chipset market and TSMC is more than double Samsung in terms of manufacturing scale and market share," said senior research analyst Parv Sharma.

Of the total smartphone chipsets on advanced nodes (4nm, 5nm, 6nm and 7nm), TSMC captured 65 per cent market share.

"Samsung Foundry captured around 30 per cent share of the global smartphone chipset shipments thanks to Qualcomm and Samsung Semiconductor's internal Exynos chipset division," said senior analyst Jene Park.

Samsung has now begun mass production of 3-nanometer semiconductors, stepping up its game in the most advanced chipmaking process node, beating its rival TSMC. The next-generation 3nm chips are built on Gate-All-Around (GAA) technology, which Samsung said will eventually allow area reduction of up to 35 per cent while providing 30 per cent higher performance and 50 per cent lower power consumption, compared with the existing FinFET process.

Samsung said its first generation of the 3nm process node achieves a 16 percent area reduction, 23 percent higher performance and a 45 percent lower power consumption.