Fabless companies, foundries, and IDMs
The design, fabrication, and sale of semiconductor devices are often allocated across different companies. So-called fabless companies design semiconductor devices while outsourcing the fabrication to foundries, also known as fabs. Companies that solely handle all steps of the production process are referred to as integrated device manufacturers (IDMs).The global fabless IC design market is mainly dominated by U.S. companies, like Qualcomm and Nvidia, alongside Taiwanese companies, such as MediaTek, Novatek, and Realtek. MediaTek accounts for almost a quarter of the fabless company market share in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the same time, Asia is the main semiconductor manufacturing hub. Taiwan, South Korea, and China are responsible for more than 90 percent of global semiconductor foundry revenue, with Taiwan alone holding over 60 percent market share. Most of this share can be attributed to the world's largest pure-play semiconductor foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Founded in 1987, TSMC generates over two trillion New Taiwan dollars in annual revenue and manufactures for client companies, including Apple, Sony, and MediaTek.
South Korea's integrated device manufacturers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are among the leading semiconductor vendors globally.