06
The Market
07
The Situation With Semiconductors
Semiconductor Market Size and Forecast
Type
World Market
Korea, a leader in the growing semiconductor market, is poised to expand
its global presence
T
he global semiconductor market has
been growing by more than 6.5 percent annually, from USD 231.7 billion in 2009 to USD 318.1 billion in
2013. The Korean share of the world market
grew considerably, from 11.7 percent in 2009
to 16.2 percent in 2013.
Nonvolatile memories are those semiconductors that maintain data even when power is cut
off. Flash memory is the leading example of
nonvolatile memory and is divided into the
NAND type, which is mostly used in mobile
devices for data storage, and the NOR type,
which is mostly used to store programs.
gence semiconductor,” which maximizes economic efficiency, user friendliness and productivity by integrating the operation, control,
transmission and conversion functions of the
signal, data and energy of electrical and electronic systems into a single chip.
The world semiconductor market is predicted
to grow by an average of 1.8 percent annually
to reach the size of USD 361.1 billion in 2018.
The system semiconductor performs operation, control, data transmission and conversion
in computers, mobile devices, home appliances
and the electronic modules of automobiles. It is
a common name for the electronic element in
the final unit of electronic products.
The semiconductor industry has a high entry
barrier and structure in which the winner
monopolizes the market and profits. In all areas
of semiconductors, the top three leaders occupy
most of the market share.
System semiconductors take up 62.5 percent
of the total semiconductor market and their
share is forecast to grow by an average of 2.8
percent annually by 2018.
The system semiconductor market is showing particularly high growth in the mobile area.
Semiconductors used in smartphones and
tablets are forecast to grow by 14.6 percent and
20.6 percent, respectively. The mobile AP,
which integrates peripheral functions, has
become a key part of the market, and the IP
market, such as ARM core, is also expected to
grow quickly.
Categories of the Semiconductor
Industry
The semiconductor industry can be divided
into four categories: semiconductors, including
memory and system semiconductors; the materials used in semiconductors; the equipment
used to manufacture semiconductors; and semiconductor equipment parts used to manufacture
the equipment.
Memory semiconductors are the main memory unit used to store the data of electronic
products and are used as the key parts of computers, notebooks, mobile devices, camcorders
and cameras.
DRAM and SRAM are the leading examples
of volatile memory. DRAM’s strengths include
high integration and low power consumption,
while SRAM boasts high speed and is therefore
mostly used for embedded memory.
April 2014
In addition, equipment such as the stepper &
scanner, etcher, CVD, CMP and wet station is
used to manufacture semiconductors while
materials such as the wafer, photo resist, chemicals, gas, CMP slurry and MASK are used in
the semiconductor.
Application of Next-Generation
Semiconductors
Next-generation semiconductors include the
advanced concept multimedia device, the multi-functional smart device, the processor/media
semiconductor used in wearable devices, the
highly functional communication-broadcasting
convergence semiconductor integrating 2G,
3G, 4G and 5G communications, the high-reliability and high-safety automobile semiconductor operating electric and self-navigating vehicles and the power semiconductor, which performs power transmission and transformation
while minimizing the leakage of electricity.
Semiconductor Leaders
Qualcomm of the United States, MediaTek
of Taiwan and Samsung of Korea together have
a 70 percent share of the mobile phone semiconductor market while Samsung and SK
Hynix of Korea and Micron of the United
States have a more than 80 percent share of the
memory semiconductor market. Intel and AMD
of the United States have a 91 percent share of
the CPU market while Infineon of Germany
and TI, Fairchild and STMicro of the United
States have a more than 50 percent share of the
analog semiconductor, automobile semiconductor and power semiconductor markets. Thus,
the few leaders dominate, and market domination of the early starters and nations is expanding. TMSC and other Taiwanese companies
have a more than 70 percent share of the semiconductor foundry service market. Applied
Materials and LAM Research of the United
States, Tokyo Electron of Japan and ASML of
the Netherlands have a more than 90 percent
share of the equipment/materials market.
Semiconductor
Korean Production
(Share)
* Source: iSuppli (2014.3)
655
2018 (E) Growth Rate ('13 - '18)
690
1.0%
663
3.4%
System Semiconductor
1,965
2,258
Total
3,181
3,611
114
226
14.6%
705
6.5%
Discretes
Memory Semiconductor
System Semiconductor
Discretes
Total
* Source: iSuppli, 2014.3
ry semiconductors manufactured by Samsung
Electronics and SK Hynix take up a 52.4 percent share of the world market. They are
expected to maintain their competitive edge for
some time.
However, Korea does not manufacture sufficient system semiconductors to meet the country’s needs. It has a 30 percent share of the
world market for mobile devices including
smartphones, 50 percent of the world digital
TV market and 8 percent of the world automo-
561
343
58
515
380
99
2.8%
2.6%
2.0%
11.4%
bile market. It imports most of the semiconductors needed in them. Key semiconductors used
in the baseband modem, RF IC, CPU and digital TV as well as the semiconductors used in
ECU and automobiles are what Korean companies need.
Moreover, most of the semiconductor equipment needed by domestic semiconductor manufacturers must be imported. Lithography equipment, ion implanters, etc., used in the manufacturing of semiconductors must also be imported.
Following China, Korean companies will
strive next to develop in markets including
Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and other
Southeast Asian countries.
By Ki-hyun Ahn
Director
Korea Semiconductor Industry Association
young.chang@kotra.or.kr
Korea is globally competitive, as the memo-
Global Semiconductor Market and Share of Korean Production
World Market
2013
Korean companies actively develop in global
markets because it is difficult to grow in the
limited Korean market with a limited number
of products. China is the key overseas market.
Korean companies already manufacture
DRAM and NAND flash memories in China
with Korean technology. In the system semiconductor area, many small fabless companies
have been established and are operating local
marketing bases. Semiconductor equipment
and materials companies are also trying to sell
their products in China directly in response to
the Chinese government’s policy of developing
local semiconductor production. For some time,
the Chinese market will remain a very attractive
one for Korean semiconductor companies.
Korea’s Semiconductor Industry
In the future, the semiconductor is predicted
to evolve into the “multi-functional conver-
Type
Korean
Production
Memory Semiconductor
(Unit: USD 100 million)
2009
2010
2011
27,132
43,724
43,038
(Unit: USD million, %)
2012
2013
44,615
51,516
231,677 307,627 310,629 303,050 318,147
(11.7)
(14.2)
(13.9)
(14.7)
(16.2)
April 2014