Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) remained the world?s No.1 silicon foundry in 2011, with market share rising to a new high of 48.8%, according to data released by Gartner Inc. Although United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) retained the No.2 place, its market share was significantly reduced and Global Foundries follows closely holding just 0.1% less market share.

Global Foundry Rankings 2011

Ranking	Company	Revenue	Revenue annual change	Market share
1	TSMC	US$14.5B.	9%	48.8%
2	UMC	US$3.6B.	-5.8%	12.1%
3	Global Foundries	US$3.5B.	1.7%	12%
4	SIC	US$1.3B.	-15.1%	4.4%
5	Tower Jazz	US$614M.	20.4%	2.1%
6	IBM	US$545M.	9%	1.8%
7	VIS	US$516M.	2.2%	1.7%
8	Dongbu	US$483M.	-5.7%	1.6%
9	Samsung	US$470M.	20.5%	1.6%
10	PSC	US$431M.	189.3%	1.4%

Source: Gartner

PowerChip Semiconductor Corp. (PSC), a new entrant transforming from DRAM chip making, was ranked No.10 on the survey, marking its first-time entry into the top-10 list. The company is already a contract supplier of logic ICs and LCD drive ICs to Apple iPhones and iPads.

According to Gartner's research director, Samuel Tuan Wang, steady sales of media tablets and smartphones helped shore up foundry and semiconductor markets as a whole throughout 2011.

Gartner's statistics also show that foundry market generated total revenue of US$29.7 billion worldwide last year, surging 5.1% from 2010.

According to Gartner analysts, the semiconductor supply chain was hit in 2011 by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and Thailand flooding.