Intel announced on Sept. 7 that it would build two semiconductor plants in Europe by investing up to 80 billion euros. This is to take some foundry market share from TSMC and Samsung Electronics.

At present, the combined market share of TSMC and Samsung Electronics is more than 70 percent. Intel announced in March this year that it would re-enter the global foundry market and build two semiconductor plants in Arizona by investing US$20 billion. The new plants in Europe are for Intel to increase its market faster.

Intel is focusing on automotive semiconductor chips. These days, the global demand for this type of chips is surging with the development of green cars and autonomous driving, and yet the level of technological difficulty is relatively low in the case of those chips. The chips can be manufactured even with 28-nm to 100-nm process technology. Intel is currently at a level of 10 nm whereas TSMC and Samsung Electronics are competing at the 5-nm level and planning to manufacture 3-nm products next year. The two companies are concentrating on chips for mobile devices, which are more profitable, rather than automotive chips.

In addition, Europe is home to multiple global leaders in the automotive industry and the local demand for automotive semiconductor chips is very large. The European Union is providing extensive support as well. For example, it is planning to provide 145 billion euros for the industry until 2024 so that the ratio of semiconductor production in Europe to the global total, which is less than 10 percent, can reach 20 percent in 2030.

TSMC, in the meantime, is gradually increasing its investment in the automotive semiconductor industry. Although its automotive chip sales accounted for just 4 percent of its total sales in the second quarter of this year, it is well aware of the fact that more automotive chips will be necessary as the electric and autonomous vehicle industries grow. Under the circumstances, it is pointed out that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also need to take measures. According to market research firms, the global automotive semiconductor market is expected to reach US$67.6 billion in 2026.


●Origin：Business Korea
●Link：http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=76103