According to data from market research company Yole Group, China is becoming the world leader in semiconductor production by 2030 with a significant increase in global foundry production capacity. It is stated that China, which currently has 21% of the world’s production capacity, will take the lead from Taiwan if it increases this rate to 30%. Taiwan currently has the highest capacity with 23%. South Korea is at 19%, Japan at 13%, the US at 10% and Europe at 8%.
China will be the world’s largest semiconductor producer
Behind China’s rapid rise are major state-supported investments in the semiconductor sector in recent years. China reached a monthly production level of 8.85 million wafers in semiconductor production in 2024. This figure means a 15% increase compared to the previous year. This amount is expected to reach 10.1 million wafers in 2025. It is determined that China achieved this increase by building 18 new factories.
The country that consumes the most wafers in the world is the US. The US accounts for about 57% of global demand. However, the US’s production capacity can only meet 10% of the total. Therefore, the country meets most of its needs from manufacturers such as Taiwan, South Korea and China.
Japan and Europe have the production capacity to meet their domestic markets to a large extent. Countries such as Singapore and Malaysia account for 6% of the total global capacity. However, a significant portion of the foundries in these countries belong to foreign companies and production is largely directed to markets such as the US and China.
Despite the increase in China’s production capacity, it still has some disadvantages against its Western competitors in the production of cutting-edge chips. The US imposes comprehensive export restrictions to limit China’s access to advanced chip manufacturing equipment.
This situation increases China’s external dependence on cutting-edge chip technologies. In order to close this gap, China is investing billions of dollars in strategic areas such as lithography machines and electronic design automation (EDA) software.
The report does not give much space to ongoing production projects in the US. However, TSMC is planned to perform 30% of advanced manufacturing at its facility in Arizona. Intel, Samsung, Micron, GlobalFoundries and Texas Instruments are also building new manufacturing facilities in the US. If these projects are completed, the US is expected to see a significant increase in its share of global semiconductor production.
China’s rise to leadership in terms of manufacturing capacity has significant implications for the global supply chain. However, it remains unclear which country will retain technological superiority due to factors such as advanced chip manufacturing and access to critical equipment.
