Combined revenues of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), United Microelectronics (UMC) and Vanguard International Semiconductor (VIS) are expected to hit another record-high level in the fourth quarter of 2019, Digitimes Research estimates.
The top-3 Taiwan-based foundries' sales increased 18.8% sequentially to a record high of US$10.84 billion in the third quarter of 2019.
Specialty IC foundry VIS has expressed caution about its sales performance for the rest of 2019, while TSMC and UMC both expect their sales to be driven by growing demand for 5G related applications. In particular, TSMC has enjoyed robust 7nm chip demand and continues to outperform its fellow Taiwan-based foundry rivals this year.
Orders for smartphone- and HPC-related chip solutions boosted TSMC's sales generated from 28nm and more advanced process technologies to nearly 70% as a proportion of the company's total wafer revenues in the third quarter, Digitimes Research has found. Leading-edge processes, defined as sub-28nm technologies, surpassed 60% for the first time as a proportion of Taiwan's top-3 foundries' combined revenues during the quarter.
Taiwan's top-3 foundries also enjoyed another sequential rise in their foundry ASPs in the third quarter, driven by growing sales generated from sub-28nm process technologies.
But TSMC, UMC and VIS will see their combined revenues drop slightly on year in 2019.
