Semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry is made up of companies that design and build tiny parts called semiconductors and semiconductor devices. These include important pieces like transistors and integrated circuits. It all started in 1948 when scientists at Bell Labs invented the transistor. Soon after, companies like Motorola and Texas Instruments began making these tiny parts.

In 1958, two inventors created the Integrated Circuit, a way to put many transistors on one small chip. This led to huge advances in making these parts, following a rule called Moore's law. Today, the industry brings in lots of money. By 2018, it was making over $481 billion each year.

The semiconductor industry helps power many other industries, like electronics. It supports things such as power electronics, consumer electronics, the tech industry, and even e-commerce. In 2021, the industry sold more than $555 billion worth of these tiny parts, with a record number of over one trillion units shipped that year. Experts think the industry will keep growing to around $726 billion by 2027.

Industry structure

The semiconductor industry is led by companies from the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the Netherlands, with Israel and Germany also important.

This industry grows steadily but in cycles that can change quickly. Even though it has grown each year, the market can swing up and down. Because products using semiconductors change fast, companies need to be flexible and creative. The semiconductor industry helps drive progress in many areas of electronics.

Over time, many tasks that were once done by the same company are now done by different companies, with some focusing only on designing chips and others only on making them. Today, most manufacturing is done by special factories called foundries, with design and manufacturing often handled by separate businesses. Only a few companies can make the most advanced chips, due to the high cost of building the needed factories.

Semiconductor sales

Sales revenue

The semiconductor industry makes money by selling tiny parts called chips. These chips are used in many things like computers, phones, and cars. The industry has grown a lot over the years, and people all around the world buy these chips.

Market share

The companies that make these chips share the market differently depending on what kind of chip they make and where they sell them. Some big companies sell more chips than others.

24 billion 0 billion

Largest companies

See also: Foundry sales leaders by year

Notes:

• Pure-play foundries – They make parts for other companies. They might help with designing, testing, and packaging, or they might only do one of these things. For example, TSMC helps with design, testing, and packaging, TCE photomasks only makes special masks, and ChipMOS only does packaging and testing.
• IDMs (integrated device manufacturers) – These companies might also help make parts for others.
• Fabless suppliers – These companies do not make parts themselves but might help with designing them.

Device shipments

Further information: List of best-selling electronic devices

Integrated circuits

Discrete devices

Sales

Big companies that make parts for computers and gadgets are based all over the world. These companies are leaders in making parts in many different ways.

Many of these companies are based in the United States, but they build their products everywhere. Over half of their factories are in the Americas, almost 40% are in the Asia-Pacific area (which includes 9% in Japan), and about 9% are in Europe.