According to the recently released Global Wafer Capacity report by IC Insights, Taiwan has maintained the lead of wafer capacity in the world while South Korea is narrowing the gap. Taiwan gained the title back in 2015 when it surpassed South Korea as the largest capacity holder.
In 2016, only China and South Korea gained share of wafer capacity, which increased 1.1% and 0.4% respectively. Installed capacity of other regions have been increased but share has been dropped.
For many regions, small numbers of major players are accounted for most of the capacity. For example, Samsung and SK Hynix held 93% of capacity in South Korea, TSMC and UMC held 73% of capacity in Taiwan, while Toshiba and Renesas held 64% of capacity in Japan.
| Region | 2015 | 2016 | Change |
| Taiwan | 21.7% | 21.3% | -0.4% |
| South Korea | 20.5% | 20.9% | 0.4% |
| Japan | 17.3% | 17.1% | -0.2% |
| North America | 14.2% | 13.4% | -0.8% |
| China | 9.7% | 10.8% | 1.1% |
| Europe | 6.4% | 6.4% | 0.0% |
| ROW | 10.2% | 10.1% | -0.1% |
Table/ Comparison of 2015 and 2016 wafer capacity figures
Figure/ Wafer Capacity Report in 2015
Source: IC Insights