Nvidia designs some of the most sought-after chips on earth, yet it does not make them. It relies on TSMC for fabrication, and in the third quarter of 2024 TSMC held a 64.9% share of the global semiconductor foundry market.
That figure comes from a market share review published in February 2025. A foundry builds chips that other companies design. TSMC, the largest contract manufacturer, makes them for Apple, Nvidia, AMD and even Intel. Its edge, the review says, rests on leadership in cutting-edge process technology, and its 3nm node has won orders from Apple and Nvidia.
Samsung in second place
Samsung is the nearest rival, but the gap is wide. In wafer foundry it held 13% in the second quarter of 2024 and 12% in the third, against TSMC’s 62% and 64%. Samsung’s foundry division has struggled with yields at advanced nodes, which has kept it from winning more business.
Revenue tells a similar story. In 2023 TSMC took in $69.3 billion, ahead of Intel at $54.23 billion and Samsung at $50.99 billion. The review projects TSMC’s market share rising from 59% in 2023 to 64% in 2024 and 66% in 2025.
Across all semiconductors, not just foundries, the ranking looks different. Samsung reclaimed the top spot in 2024 with a 10.6% share, driven by DRAM and NAND flash memory. Intel followed at 7.9% and Nvidia at 7.3%.
Smaller players
China’s SMIC held 6% of wafer foundry in the second quarter of 2024. It is growing despite U.S. sanctions, but it trails on advanced nodes and leans on mature ones. Intel is pushing its own foundry services as governments press for chip independence, and the review says that if Intel can deliver competitive chips at advanced nodes it could take share from both TSMC and Samsung.
The top ten foundries together earned $34.9 billion in the third quarter of 2024, a 9.1% rise over the previous quarter, driven by AI, automotive and high-performance computing demand.
A year earlier, in the third quarter of 2023, TSMC’s foundry share was 57.9% and Samsung’s was 12.4%.
