Global Foundry Giants Update: TSMC, SMIC, and Hua Hong Semiconductor Unveil Key Developments

As the semiconductor industry shows strong signs of recovery, three major wafer foundries — TSMC, SMIC, and Hua Hong Semiconductor — have recently made significant moves that underscore their strategic direction for 2025 and beyond.

TSMC Hosts 2nm Expansion Ceremony

On March 31, TSMC held a high-profile expansion ceremony for its 2nm production facility (Fab 22) in Taiwan. The total investment in Fab 22 is expected to exceed NT$1.5 trillion, with each phase of cleanroom construction covering twice the area of standard logic fabs. The entire facility will generate over 20,000 construction jobs and more than 7,000 high-tech positions.

According to TSMC Co-COO Y.P. Chin, the 2nm process is currently the world’s most advanced in terms of density and energy efficiency. Compared to its 3nm process, 2nm offers:

10%–15% speed improvement at the same power,

25%–30% power reduction at the same speed.

TSMC plans to start mass production in H2 2024, targeting applications in supercomputing, cloud, and mobile. The number of design wins in the first two years is expected to exceed that of 3nm, with the technology predicted to enable $2.5 trillion worth of end products globally over the next five years.

SMIC 2024 Revenue Up 27%, Net Profit Down

SMIC’s 2024 financial results show a 27% YoY increase in revenue to $8.03 billion, although net profit fell 45.4% to $490 million due to pricing pressures and high capital expenditures.

Key performance highlights:

IC foundry services: $7.49B (+29.2% YoY)

12-inch wafer contribution: rose to 77.3% of total (up from 73.7%)

Revenue by region: China (84.6%), US (12.4%), Europe & Asia (3%)

Revenue by application:

Consumer electronics surged from 25% to 37.8%

Smartphones: 27.8%

PCs/tablets: 16%

IoT & wearables: 10%

Industrial & automotive: 8%

SMIC noted a broad market recovery in 2024, with strong momentum in smartphones, consumer electronics, and emerging IoT markets.

Hua Hong Semiconductor Sees Gradual Quarterly Growth

Hua Hong Semiconductor reported $2.004 billion in revenue for 2024 and net profit of $58.1 million, with sequential quarterly improvement throughout the year.

Revenue breakdown:

China accounted for 81.6% of total revenue

Analog & Power Management ICs: $448M (+25.1% YoY)

Logic & RF: $272M (+33.4% YoY)

55nm & 65nm nodes: $439M (+50.4% YoY)

Consumer electronics: $1.26B (63% of total revenue)

Automotive & industrial: $461M

Telecom & computing: $251M

Hua Hong also began volume production at its new "Hua Hong Manufacturing Project (Fab 9)" in late 2024. The facility will ramp up in 2025 with a planned monthly capacity of 83,000 wafers, focusing on advanced specialty ICs and power devices, including 40nm processes for automotive-grade applications.

Outlook for 2025: Steady Growth on the Horizon

Following a sluggish 2023, the semiconductor industry rebounded in 2024, driven by improved consumer demand and inventory normalization. Looking ahead:

SMIC forecasts continued recovery in electronics and industrial sectors, fueled by smarter devices in home, medical, industrial, and transportation applications.

Hua Hong expects demand to remain strong, particularly with AI-driven upgrades in smartphones, PCs, and autonomous vehicles, as well as a rebound in industrial and green energy sectors.

Global market researcher TrendForce predicts that AI adoption and advanced node scaling will push the global foundry market up 20% in 2025, marking a robust return to growth.

Summary

With TSMC leading in cutting-edge technology, SMIC expanding its regional dominance, and Hua Hong scaling specialty IC production, the global wafer foundry landscape is entering a new growth phase. As AI, 5G, automotive, and IoT applications proliferate, the demand for diverse foundry capabilities will continue to rise, setting the stage for a pivotal year in 2025.