Overview of Taiwan Semiconductor Industry

I was just reading the 2007 Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Overview issued by The Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA). The overview takes a look at the Taiwan semiconductor industry in 2006. Slightly dated but still interesting. Here is a snippet from the report:

Semiconductor market of Asia, the fastest-growing area, reached US$116.5 billion in 2006, a 12.7% increase from 2005. Taiwan semiconductor industry grew 24.6% in 2006, outpaced the worldwide average of 8.9% due to the dramatic growth of 30.5% in Taiwan manufacturing sector, with 17.2% increase in foundry and 52.8% increase in DRAM.

Taiwan IC revenue (including design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing) totaled NT$1,393.3 billion, a 24.6% growth from 2005, with NT$323.4 billion in design, a 13.5% increase, NT$766.7 billion in manufacturing, a 30.5% up, NT$210.8 billion in packaging, an 18.4% up, and NT$92.4 billion in testing, a 36.9% rise.

In 2006, Taiwan IC product revenue reached NT$652.3 billion (Table 1), a 30.7% increase from 2005. Memory products comprised 52.2%, up from the 48% of 2005 due to the stabilized price. Information applications, comprising 59.7% (59.2% in 2005), remained the largest application area. Consumer applications comprised 27.8% (29.1% in 2005), and communication ICs accounted for 11.4% (10.5% in 2005).

As soon as TSIA release the 2008 version the reviews 2007, I will let you know.