Asian Tech Press (Dec 06) -- According to market research firm TrendForce, sales of the top 10 companies, which account for 97 percent of the global foundry market, rose 11.8 percent sequentially to $27.27 billion in the third quarter of 2021.

Samsung Electronics' foundry sales also rose 11.0 percent from the second quarter to $4.81 billion, continuing in second place. However, the South Korean semiconductor giant's market share declined to 17.1% from 17.3% in 2020.

TSMC, on the other hand, expanded its market share and widened the gap with Samsung Electronics. TSMC's third-quarter sales rose 11.9 percent sequentially to $14.884 billion, or 53.1 percent. This figure is 0.2 percentage points higher than the 52.9% in the second quarter.

Semiconductor industry insiders believe the recent shortage of automotive semiconductors has led to a change in market share. "Samsung Electronics focuses on high-tech products such as smartphone semiconductors, the growth in demand for automotive semiconductors has relatively boosted TSMC's share," said Ahn Ki-hyun, the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association executive director.