Editing by Kate Yuan

Chinese company Nexchip (晶合集成) entered the top ten foundries list in the fourth quarter of 2021 for the first time, replacing South Korea-based DB Hitek.  At the 10th position, its revenue hit US$350 million, a quarterly 44.2% jump, the fastest growth rate among the top ten, TrendForce reported. 

TrendForce believes that the main reason for Nexchip's ranking was its aggressive production expansion in 2021. The company plans to develop more advanced processes such as 55/40/28nm nodes and multiple product lines, including TDDI, CIS, and MCU to make up for the current single product line and limited customer base. Since CIC is rapidly ramping up operations, its growth performance in 2022 should not be underestimated.

Established in 2015, Nexchip, based in Hefei of eastern China’s Anhui Province, is the first foundry of 12-inch wafers in the province. Nexchip has recently been approved to list on the Shanghai STAR market.

The company said it aims to develop into a comprehensive foundry that covers production and design services, and gradually form product lines for four major IC processes including display driver, image sensor, microcontroller, and power management.

According to TrendForce, the output value of the top ten foundries reached US$29.55 billion, an increase of 8.3% from the previous quarter. The performance hit a new high for ten consecutive quarters, while the growth rate was slightly slower than that in the third quarter.

TrendForce data shows that the top five foundries have a combined market share of nearly 90%. China’s SMIC and Huahong Group ranked 5th and 6th, respectively.