Taiwan's foundry industry was supported by short-term orders in the electronics supply chain and high-performance computing (HPC) chip shipments during the traditional off season in the first quarter of 2024, registering only a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 3.8% in revenue, which was better than previously expected.
Revenue in the second quarter will return to growth due to the launch of new handset application processors (AP) and continued strong demand for HPC chips, with a quarterly revenue increase of 5.4%. The revenue for the second half of 2024 is expected to grow by more than 15% compared with the first half of the year, driven by 5G handset and HPC applications, as well as inventory preparations by the electronics supply chain for the traditional peak season.
Taiwan's foundry industry recorded better-than- expected revenue in the first quarter of 2024, mainly due to the strong demand for HPC chips that drove the quarterly growth of 7/6/5/4nm advanced process revenue, offsetting the seasonal weakness of the electronics industry and consumer electronics products.
Chart 1: Global major IT products on-year shipment growth, 2019-2024
Chart 2: Taiwan key wafer foundry revenues, 1Q23-2Q24 (US$b)
Chart 5: Taiwan foundry revenue share by manufacturing node, 1Q23-2Q24
Chart 6: Taiwan key wafer foundry semi-annual revenues, 1H22-2H24 (US$b)
Table 2: Taiwan wafer foundries capacity expansion plans in Taiwan, 2024
Table 3: Taiwan wafer foundries capacity expansion plans overseas, 2024