IC Insights recently released its March Update to the 2015 McClean Report.  The Update includes a review of IC company sales by headquarters location.  In this example, Samsung’s sales from its fabrication facility in Austin, Texas, are counted as sales from South Korean companies.  Intel’s sales from its fabs in China, Ireland, and Israel are included among U.S. companies, etc.  As shown, U.S. companies held a 55 percent share of the total worldwide IC market in 2014, which includes sales from IDMs and fabless IC companies. The total does not include foundry sales.  South Korean companies captured an 18 percent share and Japanese companies placed third with a 9 percent share. Chinese companies accounted for only 3 percent of total IC sales in 2014 (Figure 1).

Among IDMs (companies with wafer fabs that manufacture their own ICs), U.S.-headquartered companies accounted for slightly over half of worldwide sales followed by companies based in South Korea, Japan, and Europe. Taiwan companies (not including foundries) held only a 2 percent share.

Over the next couple of years, NXP’s purchase of Freescale (expected to close later this year) and Infineon’s purchase of IR will likely boost the European share of worldwide IDM IC sales by a few percentage points at the expense of U.S. share.  In contrast, Europe is expected to lose fabless IC company marketshare in the next few years due to Qualcomm’s acquisition of CSR, Europe’s second-largest fabless IC supplier, and Intel’s purchase of Lantiq, Europe’s third-largest fabless IC supplier (Figure 2).

U.S. companies held the dominant share of fabless IC sales last year, although its share was down from 69 percent in 2010.  The largest increase in fabless IC marketshare came from Chinese companies, which held a 9 percent share in 2014 compared to only 5 percent in 2010.

Further details on IC sales by region and by company, including IC Insights’ final sales ranking of the top 50 IDMs and top 50 fabless IC companies for 2014, are included in the March Update to The McClean Report—A Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry.