As demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips rises, the foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) 2.0 market has expanded significantly. "Foundry 2.0" refers to a broadened market that includes not only pure-play foundry companies but also integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) corporations, and photomask suppliers.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 31st, last year's global foundry 2.0 market revenue rose 16% from a year earlier to $320 billion.
With sustained demand for AI graphics processing units (GPUs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) across advanced process nodes and advanced packaging, revenue at pure-play foundries such as TSMC increased 26% year over year, leading the growth.
TSMC posted 36% year-over-year revenue growth and captured a 38% share of the overall foundry 2.0 market. Senior researcher Jake Lai said, "Advanced packaging technologies such as CoWoS are becoming key competitive advantages, and this will be one of the main variables that determines TSMC's performance in 2026."
According to senior analyst William Li, Samsung Electronics saw its revenue grow just 2% from a year earlier last year. Its market share in the foundry 2.0 market was tallied at 4%. Research director Kang Kyung-soo, on Samsung Electronics' results and outlook, said, "Demand for the 4-nanometer process is relatively solid and helping defend prices, and once mass production of the 2-nanometer process gets into full swing, it will be able to secure high value-added orders in AI and mobile."