Microchip Race: South Korea Could Overtake Taiwan by 2032
According to a study by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), in less than 10 years, the world's top three microchip manufacturers will be China, South Korea, and Taiwan
South Korea has all it takes to outpace Taiwan. According to a report published by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), “South Korea will account for approximately 20% of global semiconductor production by 2032.” According to SIA analysts’ estimates, South Korea is set to overtake Taiwan for second place on the list of the world’s largest microchip makers after China. In fact, Taiwan and the USA, which plan to increase microchip production by 203%, should account for 17 and 14 percent of global production, respectively, by 2032. In particular, the report emphasizes that two major South Korean semiconductor manufacturers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, already control more than half of the global markets for NAND and DRAM flash memory chips, respectively.
SIA estimates that global semiconductor sales totaled approximately $138 billion in the first quarter of 2024, up 15.2% from the results of the same period in 2023, but down 5.7% from sales in the final quarter of last year.
Regionally, in March 2024 semiconductor sales increased year-over-year in China (+27.4%), the Americas (+26.3%), and Asia Pacific (+11.1%), but declined in Europe (–6.8%) and Japan (–9.3%).
To download the full SIA report from Pluralia’s website (PDF in English), follow the link
