China's pure-play foundry sales increased by 6% in 2019, the only positive growth region in the world
Compared with 2017, China's pure-play foundry market share increased by 5% in 2018, accounting for 19%, 5 percentage points higher than other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Overall, the growth of the pure-play foundry market in 2018 basically came from China. However, in 2019, the U.S.-China trade war slowed China's economic growth, and China's foundry market share only increased by one percentage point in 2019, reaching 20%.
In 2018, pure-play foundry sales in China rose 42% to $10.7 billion, more than eight times the 5% increase in pure-play foundry market sales that year. Additionally, in 2019, pure-play foundry sales to China increased by 6%, 8 percentage points higher than the overall pure-play foundry market of -2%.
In 2019, Taiwan-based pure-play foundry company TSMC said that about 25% of its more than 400 customers are located in mainland China. Both TSMC and UMC achieved double-digit sales growth in China last year. UMC's sales in China rose the most, at 19%. Its growth is fueled by its 300mm Fab 12X fab in Xiamen, China, which opened in late 2016 and currently has a capacity of about 22.7K/month 300mm wafers. By contrast, many of SMIC's Chinese clients appear to be experiencing slow business growth. SMIC's sales in China fell 8% in 2019, while total sales fell 7%.