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TechTech War

Tech war: Taiwan’s share in global semiconductor manufacturing supply chain to decline, while mainland China poised for gains, IDC report says

  • Taiwan’s global share in foundry work and outsourced assembly and test are expected to fall to 43 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively, by 2027
  • Mainland China’s share in foundry and assembly and test are forecast to rise to 29 per cent and 22.4 per cent, respectively, in the same period

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Changes loom for the global chip manufacturing supply chain, as Taiwan and mainland China grapple with geopolitical tensions and the semiconductor policies of various governments. Photo: Shutterstock
Xinmei Shen
Taiwan’s share in the global chip manufacturing supply chain – covering foundry work and the field of assembly and test – is expected to decline over the next few years, while mainland China’s portion will continue to increase amid changes brought by various governments’ semiconductor policies and geopolitical tensions, according to a report by market research firm IDC.

“Geopolitical shifts are fundamentally changing the semiconductor game,” Helen Chiang, IDC’s Asia-Pacific semiconductor research lead and Taiwan country manager, wrote in the report published earlier this week.

IDC projected Taiwanese chip makers’ share in foundry work to fall to 43 per cent by 2027, down from 46 per cent this year. The island’s share in outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) – the downstream part of the industry’s supply chain, which is vital for ensuring a chip’s quality and efficiency – is estimated to decrease to 47 per cent by 2027 from 51 per cent in 2022.

Mainland China’s foundry share, meanwhile, is forecast to reach 29 per cent by 2027, representing a 2 per cent increase from this year, according to IDC. China’s share in OSAT work globally is expected to grow to 22.4 per cent by 2027, up from 22.1 per cent in 2022, an IDC representative said on Thursday.

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IDC also predicted that Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Vietnam, will make further headway in OSAT, achieving a 10 per cent global share by 2027.
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