SMIC tops Chartered in '05 foundry rankings

Mark LaPedus, EE Times
(03/25/2006 1:36 PM EST)
 
SAN JOSE, Calif. — China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) topped Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. for third place in the worldwide silicon foundry rankings in 2005, according to the rankings from Gartner Dataquest Inc.

Dongbu, Hua Hong NEC, Jazz and MagnaChip also moved up in the foundry rankings in 2005, according to Gartner Dataquest. Overall, however, it was a bad year for the foundry industry, as worldwide sales hit 18.4 billion in 2005, down 2.5 percent over 2004, according to the market research firm.

For the first time, the foundry market fell while overall semiconductor sales grew in 2005, according to the firm.