TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) still controls more than 50% of the global market share for chips, according to market research firm TrendForce.

TSMC’s fourth quarter revenue last year hit US$15.75 billion (NT$450.02 billion), a 5.8% increase from the third quarter, said the TrendForce report released Monday (March 14). TSMC’s 5 nm revenue performed well due to strong iPhone 13 sales.

However, TSMC’s 7 and 6 nm revenue dropped in response to a weaker Chinese smartphone market, “becoming the only TSMC node in decline in 4Q21,” TrendForce said. As a result, the world’s largest contract chipmaker saw its global market share shrink by 1% to 52.1% from the third to fourth quarters.

Samsung, TSMC’s main rival in the advanced chip segment, saw fourth quarter revenue in 2021 grow to US$5.54 billion, a quarterly jump of 15.3%, due to the “gradual completion of new advanced 5/4 nm process capacity and the mass production of new flagship products from major client Qualcomm.” TrendForce added that although Samsung’s foundry business posted record revenue, “the slower ramp-up of advanced process capacity continues to erode overall profitability.”

Meanwhile, fellow Taiwanese chipmaker United Microelectronics Corporation’s (UMC) revenue rose slightly in 4Q21 to US$2.12 billion, up 5.8% quarter on quarter. The report said UMC was “constrained by limited growth in new production capacity and the fact that the new wave of wafers contracted at the latest pricing has yet to be produced.”