In Q3 2023, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) generated about $17.25 billion in foundry revenue—57.9% of the global foundry market by revenue, according to TrendForce. Intel Foundry Services (IFS) also entered TrendForce’s top 10 for the first time, with about $311 million in revenue. The two developments were not equivalent: TSMC’s revenue was roughly 55 times IFS’s, and IFS fell out of the top 10 in Q4 2023. This is a historical snapshot, not a current ranking.
What the Q3 2023 foundry ranking measured
A semiconductor foundry manufactures chips designed by other companies. TrendForce’s ranking compares foundry revenue; it is not a ranking of total semiconductor sales, all chip manufacturing, or companies’ overall corporate revenue. Its top 10 generated approximately $28.29 billion in Q3 2023, up 7.9% from the previous quarter. TrendForce’s December 6, 2023 report described a quarter lifted by product launches and restocking.
Some foundries, including TSMC, GlobalFoundries and UMC, primarily manufacture chips for outside customers. Others are integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) with both in-house chip operations and external foundry businesses. Intel’s IFS revenue is the relevant figure for this comparison—not Intel’s total corporate revenue or chips made for Intel’s own products. Intel’s annual filing identifies TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, UMC and SMIC as major foundry competitors and calls TSMC the market leader. Intel’s 2023 annual filing provides that company context.
How the leading foundries compared
The figures below are approximate Q3 2023 foundry revenues reported by TrendForce. Sequential changes are included where the cited coverage specifies them; the market-share figures shown are available only for TSMC and Samsung in the cited materials.
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| Company | Q3 2023 foundry revenue | Context |
|---|---|---|
| TSMC | About $17.25 billion; 57.9% share by revenue | Its 3nm process contributed 6% of revenue; 7nm and below accounted for nearly 60%. |
| Samsung Foundry | About $3.69 billion; roughly 12%–13% share | Revenue increased about 14.1% quarter over quarter. |
| GlobalFoundries | About $1.85 billion | Revenue was broadly stable. |
| UMC | About $1.8 billion | Revenue declined about 1.7% quarter over quarter. |
| SMIC | About $1.62 billion | Revenue increased about 3.8% quarter over quarter. |
| Intel Foundry Services | About $311 million | Revenue rose 34.1% quarter over quarter, and IFS entered the top 10. |
TrendForce’s underlying figures and commentary are in its Q3 2023 foundry-market report. Intel separately reported $311 million for IFS in Q3 2023, compared with $78 million a year earlier. That company financial line item corroborates the reported amount, but it should not be assumed to be identical in definition to an industry ranking’s external-foundry revenue methodology. Intel’s Q3 2023 results give the company’s comparison.
Why TSMC’s lead was so large
TSMC’s result reflected both the volume of customer demand and the value of the products it manufactured. High-volume 3nm shipments for Apple began contributing revenue in the quarter, and 7nm-and-below processes made up nearly 60% of TSMC’s revenue. Advanced manufacturing tends to command higher prices, so revenue share does not map directly to wafer volume: a foundry can capture a larger share of dollars without producing a proportionally larger share of all wafers.
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The company’s position also rests on a manufacturing and design ecosystem built around serving outside chip designers. TSMC describes itself as a leader in advanced and specialty foundry technologies and advanced packaging. It reported that its managed manufacturing capacity exceeded 16 million 12-inch-equivalent wafers annually in 2023. That is a company-reported annual capacity measure, not a Q3 shipment figure. TSMC’s 2023 annual report outlines its business and technology position; its 2023 annual-report PDF provides the capacity figure.
- Scale and breadth: A large base of customers and manufacturing capacity supports high-volume production across product generations.
- Process cadence: Leading-edge nodes attract customers whose designs depend on advanced performance and power characteristics.
- Packaging: Advanced packaging and integration services are part of the offering, not just wafer fabrication.
- Customer confidence: Designers must qualify manufacturing processes and plan products around dependable production. An established ecosystem can be difficult for a new entrant to reproduce quickly.
These advantages help explain the revenue gap, but they do not make the market a monopoly. Samsung, GlobalFoundries, UMC, SMIC and specialty foundries serve different customers and technologies. TSMC’s customer and manufacturing concentration, cyclical smartphone exposure and Taiwan location are strategic considerations; they are not risks measured by the Q3 ranking itself.
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Why the market grew in Q3—and why that did not prove a full recovery
TrendForce attributed the sequential increase in top-10 revenue to urgent orders for smartphone and notebook components, second-half launches of new iPhone and Android products, and healthier inventories after the semiconductor downturn. Revenue from expensive 3nm manufacturing at TSMC and Samsung also contributed. The report described demand shaped in part by rush orders and restocking, while retaining a cautious outlook amid inflation and broader market uncertainty. One stronger quarter therefore did not establish a lasting industry recovery. TrendForce’s Q3 analysis details those factors.
Why Intel entered the top 10
IFS revenue reached about $311 million in Q3 2023. TrendForce said it rose 34.1% sequentially and linked the increase to seasonal laptop-related orders and contributions from higher-priced advanced processes. Intel’s own results showed the same $311 million figure, up from $78 million in Q3 2022. The year-over-year comparison indicates growth from a small base; it does not show that IFS had reached TSMC-scale operations.
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The strategic point was that Intel was seeking to sell manufacturing services to external chip designers, not merely producing its own processors. Under its IDM 2.0 strategy, Intel aimed to turn manufacturing capacity, process technology and packaging into an offering for outside customers. Intel said it was pursuing five process nodes in four years and cited Intel 18A development and customer design wins as milestones. Those were Intel’s stated goals and company-reported milestones, not independent proof of production-scale results. Intel’s Q3 results and 2023 annual filing describe its strategy and competitive context.
Intel’s broader footprint and manufacturing heritage may be strategically attractive to customers seeking alternatives, but winning foundry business requires more than capacity. Designers need confidence in process performance, yields, production consistency, packaging and long-term execution. Customer qualification also takes time, so announced interest or design wins should not be confused with recurring high-volume revenue.
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What Intel’s top-10 entry did—and did not—mean
It was a measurable sign that Intel’s external-foundry operation was generating revenue and crossing into a ranking of major suppliers. It was not evidence that Intel had become a close financial peer of TSMC: the roughly $17.25 billion TSMC reported was about 55 times IFS’s $311 million, a ratio calculated from the two Q3 figures. Nor does a quarterly ranking by revenue establish technological leadership, customer breadth or durable growth.
The ranking proved fragile. In its subsequent Q4 2023 update, TrendForce reported that IFS was pushed out of the top 10 by PSMC and Nexchip. The brief appearance is best read as an early milestone in Intel’s effort to build an external foundry business, not a settled change in the competitive order. TrendForce’s Q4 2023 update records the change.
Where the other foundries fit
The market includes more than a contest for the smallest process node. Foundries focused on mature or specialty processes support automotive, industrial, communications, display, power, IoT, aerospace and defense products. Their importance to customers may not be captured by a leading-edge narrative or a single quarter’s revenue ranking.
- Samsung Foundry: The clear second-place company in the Q3 figures, with about $3.69 billion in revenue and roughly 14.1% sequential growth. TrendForce cited Qualcomm mobile components, 5G modems and 28nm OLED display-driver ICs among the contributors.
- GlobalFoundries: About $1.85 billion in broadly stable revenue, with IoT, home, industrial, aerospace and defense demand among the cited contributors.
- UMC: About $1.8 billion, down roughly 1.7% sequentially; growth in 28nm and 22nm products helped offset weakness elsewhere.
- SMIC: About $1.62 billion, up roughly 3.8% sequentially. AnandTech, reporting on the ranking, said Chinese customers represented approximately 84% of its revenue and noted localization demand and smartphone-component orders. AnandTech’s December 2023 coverage provides that customer-share figure.
- Specialty suppliers: Tower Semiconductor, Vanguard International Semiconductor, HuaHong and PSMC illustrate the importance of specialty and mature-node manufacturing, including power, display-driver and other applications.
The Q3 ranking’s central message was therefore twofold: TSMC’s position was supported by scale and a strong mix of advanced-node revenue, while Intel had begun to register as an external foundry but remained small and had not yet established a durable top-10 position.
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