SMIC becomes world's no.3 silicon foundry supplier

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 30, 2006. It reports that China's chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. has unseated Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. as the world's third-largest silicon-foundry supplier in 2005.

In 2005, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. snatched up 6.4 percent of the world market with sales totaling US$1.17 billion. The company's sales results in that year represented a 20.1-percent gain from a year earlier.

In 2005, Taiwan's Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp. were still rated as the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the sector, respectively. Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. bagged 44.8 percent of the market with sales of US$8.22 billion, increasing 7.2 percent from the year before. Meanwhile, United Microelectronics Corp. took 15.4 percent of the world market with sales of US$2.82 billion. The company's sales results in the United States in 2005 were down 19.3 percent from the previous year.

IBM Corp.'s foundry business was ranked as the No. 5 player in the world market. It was followed by South Korea's MagnaChip Semiconductor Ltd. (No. 6), Taiwan's Vanguard Semiconductor International Corp. (No. 7), South Korea's Dongbu Semiconductor Ltd. (No. 8), Shanghai's Hua Hong NEC (No. 9), and the U.S.-based Jazz Semiconductor Inc. (No. 10).