Technology
Chart: Fintech Investment in 2016
Chart: Fintech Investment in 2016
Overall numbers are down, but banks step up their game
The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.
According to a new report by Singapore-based venture capital firm Life.SREDA, last year was a mixed bag for fintech.
On the one hand, the Money of the Future Report pegs 2016 as the first year to have an overall decrease in fintech funding after taking into account any outliers. By their calculations, dealflow slowed in the last couple of quarters of the year, while the amount of funding flowing into fintech fell 6% to $19.1 billion.
On the other hand, the one deal that was considered an outlier was a big one: Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial, the world’s second-largest unicorn (behind Uber), raised a Series B of $4.5 billion in early 2016. That’s the largest ever fundraising round for a private tech company.
Further, for the deals that were done in 2016, one could say there was an element of quality over quantity. Established financial institutions are no longer sitting on the sidelines for fintech – in fact, banks have increased the number of investments in VC-backed fintech companies by 61% since the previous year.
Who’s Banking on Fintech?
Some banks are more active than others.
JP Morgan, at one end of the spectrum, only booked three fintech deals last year, which is the same as they did for 2015.
Companies like Barclays and Goldman Sachs have more of a shotgun approach: get in on as many fintech companies as possible. Barclays invested in 23 deals in 2016 for a 53% increase in activity, while Goldman got in on 17 deals for a 31% bump in activity.
Partnerships and product integrations, accelerators and innovative labs, direct investments and venture debts, corporate VCs and fund-of-fund investments — banks started to use all available mechanisms in order not too lose in the digital war with the new hungry players.
Even though Barclays and Goldman Sachs are both heavy investors in the space, each has a different rationale behind their tactics. Goldman Sachs invests in fintech startups solely with expectations of a financial return, while Barclays and banks such as BBVA are looking for more strategic investments that can also enhance their core businesses.
Regardless of the differing tactics and rationales, it looks like banks are officially in the tech game for good. The question is: can hulking, conservative institutions like banks be agile enough to make use of these upcoming investments – and will they pay off?
Technology
Ranked: Largest Semiconductor Foundry Companies by Revenue
Most of the 10 largest semiconductor foundries in the world, are headquartered in just three Asian countries, accounting for 90% of the entire industry’s revenue.

Ranked: Largest Semiconductor Foundry Companies by Revenue
They’re in our phones, cars, planes, and even fridges.
Semiconductor chips have become critical for the modern way of life, and the biggest semiconductor foundry companies rake in billions of dollars from widespread demand.
This chart shows the largest semiconductor foundry companies by their percentage of global revenues in Q1 2023, using data sourced from Trendforce.
Semiconductor Foundry Companies by Revenue
At the top of the list and dwarfing every other company by revenue share is TSMC which earned 60% (or nearly $17 billion) of the entire industry’s revenue in Q1 2023.
Founded in 1987, TSMC is a pure-play foundry that has become Taiwan’s largest company and manufactures products for a host of clients including Apple, NVIDIA, and AMD.
Rank | Company | Country | Revenue (Q1 2023, USD) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | TSMC | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $16,735M |
2 | Samsung | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $3,446M |
3 | GlobalFoundries | 🇺🇸 US | $1,841M |
4 | UMC | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $1,784M |
5 | SMIC | 🇨🇳 China | $1,462M |
6 | HuaHong Group | 🇨🇳 China | $845M |
7 | Tower Semiconductor | 🇮🇱 Israel | $356M |
8 | PSMC | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $332M |
9 | VIS | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $269M |
10 | DB Hitek | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $234M |
Other | $556M | ||
Global Total | $27,860M |
Note: Revenue based on the following conversion rates: USD 1 = WON 1,276; USD 1 = NTD 30.4.
Well behind TSMC in foundry revenues is integrated device manufacturer Samsung, the biggest company in South Korea, which made $3.4 billion (12.4% of the industry’s revenue) from its semiconductor manufacturing business.
GlobalFoundries from the U.S., UMC from Taiwan and SMIC from China round out the top five, with each taking home around 6% of industry’s revenue share in Q1 2023. The former spun out from AMD’s manufacturing arm when the company went fabless in 2009.
Industry concentration is apparent in semiconductors. For example, the top 10 semiconductor foundry companies account for 98% of the entire industry’s revenue. Furthermore, 90% of the market is dominated by companies in just three Asian countries: Taiwan, South Korea, and China.
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