“Looking ahead, the 2nm node, though projected to contribute just 1% to total revenue in 2025, is poised for rapid expansion as TSMC ramps up its new capacity in Taiwan. The node is expected to account for more than 10% of the revenue by 2027. We believe 2nm will become one of the most long-lived and impactful nodes over the next five years or so, surpassing the previous nodes in terms of business contribution, thanks to growing demand from AI and computing applications – from cloud to edge,” said Senior Analyst William Li.

Looking at other nodes, the 20-12nm range is expected to remain steady, contributing 7% to total revenue, as we continue to see some chip applications from mature nodes migrating through these nodes toward advanced nodes.

As a result, mature nodes such as 28nm and higher are expected to see their combined share drop to 36% in 2025, down from 54% in 2021 and indicating a gradual phasing out of legacy technologies. However, revenues are expected to remain largely flat compared to four years ago, with 28nm being the only bright spot among these mature nodes, showing a 5% CAGR.

Overall, the global pure-play semiconductor foundry industry’s revenue is projected to grow by 17% YoY in 2025, reaffirming that advanced process nodes continue to fuel the semiconductor market and technology trends. TSMC, at the advanced node end, is the biggest beneficiary, although Samsung and Intel are not far behind.

For the rest of the nodes, UMC, GlobalFoundries and SMIC continue to see healthy demand, even though, in revenue terms, they may not be growing at the pace of the advanced nodes. While innovations in front-end processes with High-NA EUV and other technologies continue, backend packaging processes are also witnessing diverse innovations and revenue opportunities, like through HBM memory integration and the migration to chiplet packaging.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved