According to Counterpoint Research's Quarterly Tracker Report on Wafer Foundry, global wafer foundry industry revenue grew by about 9% year-on-year and 23% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2024. Sequential growth was primarily driven by strong AI demand. Despite slow recovery in non-AI semiconductors (such as those used in automotive and industrial applications), there have been urgent orders for certain applications such as the Internet of Things and consumer electronics. It is worth noting that China's wafer foundry and semiconductor market has recovered faster compared to global peers. Chinese wafer foundry companies such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Hua Hong Semiconductor have reported strong quarterly performance and positive outlooks due to Chinese fabless semiconductor customers entering the inventory adjustment phase earlier than their global counterparts.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC.US) achieved moderate quarterly revenue growth in the second quarter of 2024, driven by continued strong demand for AI accelerators. As a result, TSMC further raised its annual revenue guidance from low-to-mid 20% to mid 20%. In addition, TSMC expects the supply and demand balance for AI accelerators to remain tight by the end of 2025 or early 2026. The company also plans to at least double the CoWoS production capacity in 2025 to meet strong AI demand from customers. Furthermore, Counterpoint Research continues to believe that there is a high likelihood of potential price increases for advanced nodes (such as 3nm and 5/4nm) in 2025, highlighting TSMC's leading technological position and bringing promising prospects for the company's long-term profitability and the industry's sustained growth.

Samsung Foundry's sequential revenue growth is mainly attributed to inventory pre-build and replenishment for smartphones, maintaining the second position with a 13% market share in the second quarter of 2024. The company continues to focus on attracting more mobile and AI/high-performance computing customers for advanced nodes and expects its annual revenue growth to exceed the industry's growth.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) reported strong quarterly performance and provided stronger-than-expected guidance for the third quarter, driven by ongoing demand recovery in China, including CIS, PMIC, IoT, TDDI, and LDDIC applications. Demand for 12-inch wafers at SMIC is improving, with expected increases in average selling prices (ASP) as the range of inventory replenishment expands for Chinese fabless semiconductor customers. The company maintains a cautiously optimistic outlook for annual revenue growth and expects future utilization rates to increase healthily.

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC.US) reported significantly better-than-expected quarterly performance, primarily due to favorable forex rates and strict pricing capabilities, resulting in better profit margins. The company has guided for low double-digit sequential growth in the third quarter of 2024, in line with expectations, with overall recovery in logic semiconductors weaker except for AI. UMC focuses on strategic specialty technologies such as 22nm HV and 55nm RF SOI/BCD, as well as reducing exposure to commoditized areas such as LDDIC and NOR flash memory, which is expected to support stable pricing and long-term growth.

GlobalWafers reported steady quarterly performance. Driven by new design wins, the company's automotive business saw sequential growth in challenging markets. The company also noted normalization of inventory in the smart phone market, as well as stable demand in the communication and internet of things markets. GlobalWafers' guidance indicates a moderate recovery in its overall business, echoing trends seen by other non-China mature node wafer foundries such as United Microelectronics.