Semiconductor industry


The semiconductor industry is the aggregate collection of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductors. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconductor devices became a viable business. The industry's annual semiconductor sales revenue has since grown to over, as of 2018. The semiconductor industry is in turn the driving force behind the wider electronics industry, with annual power electronics sales of £135billion as of 2011, annual consumer electronics sales expected to reach by 2020, tech industry sales expected to reach in 2019, and e-commerce with over in 2017.
The most widely used semiconductor device is the MOSFET, which was invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959. MOSFET scaling and miniaturization has been the primary factor behind the rapid exponential growth of semiconductor technology since the 1960s. The MOSFET, which accounts for 99.9% of all transistors, is the driving force behind the semiconductor industry and the most widely manufactured device in history, with an estimated total of 13sextillion MOSFETs having been manufactured between 1960 and 2018.

Industry structure

The global semiconductor industry is dominated by companies from the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, and the European Union.
Unique features of the industry include continuous growth but in a cyclical pattern with high volatility. While the current 20 year annual average growth of the semiconductor industry is on the order of 13%, this has been accompanied by equally above-average market volatility, which can lead to significant if not dramatic cyclical swings. This has required the need for high degrees of flexibility and innovation in order to constantly adjust to the rapid pace of change in the market as many products embedding semiconductor devices often have a very short life cycle.
At the same time, the rate of constant price-performance improvement in the semiconductor industry is staggering. As a consequence, changes in the semiconductor market not only occur extremely rapidly but also anticipate changes in industries evolving at a slower pace. The semiconductor industry is widely recognized as a key driver and technology enabler for the whole electronics value chain.

Semiconductor sales

Sales revenue

Market share

MOSFET fabrication process200320001990198719851982
CMOS%99%88%%47%%
PMOS and NMOS%1%12%%53%%

Industry sectorMarket share
Computer and peripheral equipment32.3%
Consumer electronics21.2%
Telecommunications equipment16.5%
Industrial electronics14.3%
Defense and space industry11.5%
Transportation technology4.2%

Largest companies

Rank20182017201120062000199519921990198619851975
1SamsungSamsungIntelIntelIntelIntelNECNECNECNECTI
2IntelIntelSamsungSamsungToshibaNECToshibaToshibaToshibaTIMotorola
3SK HynixTSMCTSMCTINECToshibaIntelHitachiHitachiMotorolaPhilips
4TSMCSK HynixTIToshibaSamsungHitachiMotorolaIntelHitachi
5MicronMicronToshibaSTTIMotorolaHitachiMotorolaToshiba
6BroadcomBroadcomRenesasRenesasMotorolaSamsungTIFujitsuFujitsu
7QualcommQualcommQualcommHynixSTTIMitsubishiPhilips
8ToshibaTISTFreescaleHitachiIBMMitsubishiTIIntel
9TIToshibaHynixNXPInfineonMitsubishiPhilipsNational
10NvidiaNvidiaMicronNECPhilipsHyundaiMatsushitaMatsushita

NameHQ countryManufacturer typeHardware products
Samsung ElectronicsSouth KoreaIDMNAND flash memory, DRAM, CMOS sensor, RF transceivers, OLED display, SSD
IntelUSAIDM
TSMCTaiwanPure-play
SK HynixSouth KoreaIDM
MicronUSAIDMDRAM, NAND flash, SSD, NOR flash, Managed NAND, multichip packages
QualcommUSAFabless
BroadcomUSAFabless
ToshibaJapanIDM
Texas Instruments USAIDM
Analog DevicesUSAIDMAmplifiers, data converters, audio & video products, RF & microwave, sensors, MEMS
MicrochipUSAIDMMicrocontroller and analog semiconductors
NXPNetherlands/USAIDM
MediaTekTaiwanFabless
InfineonGermanyIDM
STMicroelectronicsSwitzerlandIDM
SonyJapanIDM
ARMUnited Kingdom/USAFabless
AMDUSAFabless
NvidiaUSAFabless
RenesasJapanIDM
GlobalFoundriesUSAPure-play
ON SemiconductorUSAIDM
UMCTaiwanPure-play
AppleUSAFabless
FujitsuJapanIDM
HitachiJapanIDM
IBMUSAFabless
Mitsubishi ElectricJapanIDM
PanasonicJapanIDM
Maxim IntegratedUSA

Notes:
YearOptoelectronicsSensor / ActuatorMOSFET
196020012,900,000,000,000,000
200223,1641,6542,900,000,000,000,000
200328,9552,4822,900,000,000,000,000
200438,0563,3102,900,000,000,000,000
200544,6754,1372,900,000,000,000,000
200655,4294,1372,900,000,000,000,000
200767,8394,1362,900,000,000,000,000
200876,9394,9642,900,000,000,000,000
200991,0034,9642,900,000,000,000,000
201097,6226,6192,900,000,000,000,000
2011110,0318,2732,900,000,000,000,000
2012129,88611,5832,900,000,000,000,000
2013131,54114,0642,900,000,000,000,000
20142015,000,000,000,000
2016,000,000,000,000
20172018,000,000,000,000
196020181,112,340+87,699+13,000,000,000,000,000

Integrated circuits

Discrete devices

Regions

Sales

Manufacturers headquartered in the following regions are the sales leaders in the pure-play foundry, IDM, fabless manufacturing and :Category:Assembly and Test semiconductor companies|OSAT sectors of the industry.
RankFoundryIDMFabless:Category:Assembly and Test semiconductor companies|OSAT
1TaiwanUnited StatesUnited StatesTaiwan
2United StatesSouth KoreaTaiwanUnited States
3ChinaJapanChinaChina
4IsraelEuropean UnionEuropean UnionSingapore
5South KoreaTaiwanJapanJapan

Note that manufacturers headquartered in the United States have fabrication plants across the world, including over 50% in the Americas, 39% in the Asia-Pacific region, and 9% in Europe.

Patents

Patent holders from the following countries produced the highest number of annual semiconductor patents worldwide, as of 2005.
RankCountryPatents
1Japan30,500
2South Korea13,500
3United States9,500
4Taiwan4,000
5China3,500
6Germany2,500