Chip foundry "monopoly"? Taiwan Semiconductor's Q2 market share exceeds 70%

TSMC's revenue market share in the second quarter has surpassed 70% for the first time, further consolidating its dominant position in the global semiconductor foundry market.

According to TrendForce data, TSMC's market share reached 70.2% this quarter, a significant increase from 67.6% in the previous quarter. The overall industry revenue grew by 14.6% quarter-on-quarter, mainly benefiting from subsidy policies in various countries and proactive inventory buildup for smartphones, AI, PC, and server products. TSMC's strong performance puts pressure on its main competitor Samsung, whose market share slightly declined to 7.3%.

TSMC's quarterly revenue grew by 18.5%, reaching USD 30.239 billion, far exceeding Samsung's USD 3.159 billion during the same period. The market generally expects that as demand for 2nm process technology continues to rise, TSMC's market share is likely to further increase to 75% by 2026.

Meanwhile, TSMC is accelerating the construction of its 1.4nm process production line, planning to invest up to USD 49 billion, demonstrating its ambition in the advanced process field. Although Samsung is actively laying out its 2nm GAA process in an effort to narrow the gap, it is unlikely to shake TSMC's leading position in the short term.

TSMC Continues to Widen the Gap with Samsung

In the second quarter of 2025, TSMC's market share increased from 67.6% in the previous quarter to 70.2%, with quarterly revenue growing by 18.5% year-on-year, reaching USD 30.239 billion.

According to TrendForce data, the entire wafer foundry industry saw a quarter-on-quarter revenue growth of 14.6%, but TSMC's growth rate was significantly higher than the industry average.

In contrast, Samsung's market share fell from 7.7% to 7.3%, with revenue of USD 3.159 billion and a growth rate of 9.2%. The revenue gap between TSMC and Samsung further widened, highlighting TSMC's absolute advantage in high-end processes and capacity allocation.

TSMC's increase in market share is mainly attributed to its continuous investment and technological leadership in advanced processes.

The company expects to start mass production of the 2nm process in the fourth quarter of 2025, with Apple having secured the first batch of capacity, and subsequent orders from Qualcomm, MediaTek, Broadcom, and other customers will further drive revenue growth. Looking ahead to 2026, analysts expect TSMC's market share to reach 75%. Additionally, TSMC is preparing to build a 1.4nm chip factory in Taiwan, with initial investments reaching USD 49 billion, aimed at maintaining its technological leadership.

Despite TSMC's clear advantages, Samsung is still actively chasing.

Samsung is accelerating the R&D of its 2nm GAA process, planning to be the first to launch the Exynos 2600 chip based on this technology to gain market attention and technological discourse. However, Samsung's current capacity and customer structure are difficult to compete with TSMC. With a stable customer base and advanced process nodes, TSMC will continue to dominate the global wafer foundry market in the short term