Output value for the global IC foundry industry is forecast to reach US$54.8 billion in 2015, up 12% from US$49 billion in 2014, according to Digitimes Research.
IC demand for 4G smartphones will fuel the foundry sector's 12% output value growth in 2015, despite several unfavorable factors such as decelerating tablet sales, the continued-slow growth in PC shipments, and an overall slowdown in the growth of smartphone shipments, said Digitimes Research.
Leading pure-play foundry TSMC has budgeted a record US$12 billion in capex for 2015. During the year, the company is looking to expand its 16nm FinFET process production capacity while building manufacturing lines for its more-advanced 10nm technology, Digitimes Research indicated.
In addition, TSMC is expected to see sales generated from 20nm process technology jump to US$6.34 billion in 2015 from US$2.15 billion in 2014. The foundry moved its 20nm node technology to commercial production in the third quarter of 2014, Digitimes Research said.
Meanwhile, IDM foundry Samsung Electronics has been focusing on its 14nm FinFET development and time-to-market since 2014, Digitimes Research observed. By partnering with Globalfoundries, Samsung will also be able to make its offering more cost-competitive than rivals while achieving better production yield rates in the advanced 1Xnm process market segment in 2015, Digitimes Research said.
Digitimes Research forecast that Samsung's share of the global IC foundry market will climb 1.5pp to 10% in 2015.