The global semiconductor industry is once again witnessing a major upheaval!

Just recently, market research firm Counterpoint Research released the latest global wafer foundry market data — TSMC has achieved a historic high with a 71% market share, breaking the 70% mark for the first time! At the same time, China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) has also maintained a firm grip on the third position globally with a 5% market share, becoming the only Chinese enterprise to rank among the top three!

In this era of AI boom and chip competition, this list is not only a contest of technology, but also a microcosm of the industry's destiny.

According to the report, in the second quarter of 2025, the overall sales volume of the global pure wafer foundry market increased by 33% year-on-year, mainly driven by the outbreak of the AI industry and subsidies from various countries. However, TSMC has captured almost most of the dividends in this wave of growth.

TSMC's market share soared from 65% in the same period last year to 71%. What makes it so dominant? The answer is simple: the dual-drive of advanced manufacturing processes and packaging technology.

Amid the wave of AI chips, global tech giants such as NVIDIA, AMD, Apple, Qualcomm, and Tesla have entrusted TSMC with the foundry production of almost all their GPUs and AI processors. The high utilization rate of its 3nm, 4nm, and 5nm production lines has kept TSMC's production capacity operating at nearly full load.

More crucially, TSMC's advanced CoWoS (Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate) packaging technology has become the "core link" of AI chips. NVIDIA's H200, B200, and Blackwell series all rely on this technology. It can be said that whoever masters CoWoS will hold the key to the future of AI computing power.

Samsung Electronics, which once competed with TSMC, is now in an awkward position. The report shows that Samsung ranks second with an 8% market share, but this represents a 2-percentage-point decline compared to the same period last year. The reason is obvious: the yield rate of Samsung's EUV process has been slow to improve, undermining customer confidence. Moreover, Samsung has almost missed the most golden window of opportunity in the foundry competition for AI computing power chips. Although it remains stable in the smartphone and display driver chip markets, the gap between Samsung and TSMC is widening further.

What is even more encouraging is that SMIC has firmly maintained its third-place position globally! With a 5% market share, although it decreased slightly compared to the previous quarter, its strategic significance is extraordinary.

Against the backdrop of global restrictions on high-end equipment and pressure on the supply chain, SMIC's ability to consistently stay in the top three is already a sign of its strength. What has supported it? It is China's huge domestic demand market, the support of national policies, and more importantly, SMIC's meticulous refinement in mature manufacturing processes.

Currently, SMIC has achieved stable mass production in mature processes such as 28nm and 14nm, and is accelerating the deployment of more advanced N+1 and N+2 processes. Although there is a temporary gap with TSMC in advanced processes, SMIC has formed unique competitiveness in niche areas such as power management chips, automotive-grade chips, and industrial control chips.

Even more noteworthy is that with the rapid breakthroughs of domestic equipment and material manufacturers — the acceleration of domestic substitution from photoresists, silicon wafers to etching machines — SMIC's growth space has been further expanded. It is foreseeable that in the next 3-5 years, the landscape of China's wafer foundry industry will undergo a structural transformation.