Technology

12 Years of the World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Countries

Published

12 months ago

December 20, 2022

Gilbert Fontana

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Omri Wallach

Tracking the top 10 most innovative countries since 2011

12 Years of the World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Countries

Every year, the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) scores countries on how innovative their economies are with the Global Innovation Index.

The Index scores countries on indicators of a strong innovation economy. These include R&D spend, general market strength, patent systems and output, and local labor capital. And though a few countries consistently rank high, others are moving in and out of the top 10 rankings.

This graphic from Gilbert Fontana details the top 10 most innovative countries in the UN’s WIPO Global Innovation Index from 2011-2022.

Top 10 Innovative Countries (2011–2022)

Over the last 12 years, Switzerland has ranked at the top of the innovation index on the strength of its IP laws and local economic strength.

But much of the remaining top 10 have been in flux:

Most Innovative Country Rank by Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Switzerland	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sweden	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	3	2	2	2	3
Singapore	3	3	8	7	7	6	7	5	8	8	8	7
Hong Kong	4	8	7	10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Finland	5	4	6	4	6	5	8	7	6	7	7	9
Denmark	6	7	9	8	10	8	6	8	7	6	9	10
U.S.	7	10	5	6	5	4	4	6	3	3	3	2
Canada	8	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Netherlands	9	6	4	5	4	9	3	2	4	5	6	5
UK	10	5	3	2	2	3	5	4	5	4	4	4
Ireland	n/a	9	10	n/a	8	7	10	10	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Luxembourg	n/a	n/a	n/a	9	9	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Germany	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	9	9	9	9	10	8
Israel	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	n/a	n/a	n/a
South Korea	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	10	5	6

In addition to Switzerland, seven other countries have been in the top 10 in each year, including Sweden, Singapore, and the United States.

Others have dropped out of the top 10, such as Canada in 2012 and Ireland in 2018. But that let up-and-comers like South Korea and Germany grab one of the top 10 spots. In total, 14 countries have ranked in the top 10 most innovative countries in the world over the time period covered in the visualization.

To learn more about the 2022 innovation rankings and how countries around the world ranked, check out The Most Innovative Countries in the World 2022.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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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.

Published

2 weeks ago

November 20, 2023

Marcus Lu

A cropped chart showing the largest semiconductor foundry companies by their percentage of global revenues in Q1 2023.

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.

ℹ️ We highlight data for companies that only operate foundries (fabrication plants) that manufacture chips for clients, also known as a “pure-play” foundries, as well as companies that design and manufacture their own chips, known as integrated device manufacturers. “Fabless” manufacturers that only design and don’t manufacture their own chips are not included.

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.