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Space Exploration is Taking Off

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Space Exploration is Taking Off

Space Exploration is Taking Off

Up until recent years, the momentum associated with space exploration had more or less fizzled. While it would seem that rapid innovation is occurring in every other technology field worldwide, the hardware and business models used in space exploration have remained static aside from small, incremental improvements.

It is mind boggling that the last time humans walked on the moon was over 40 years ago.

However, since the 2010 there have been signs of great ambition in space exploration. We catalogued many of these interesting developments from the private sector just months ago, covering the endeavours of future asteroid miners, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and many other big names.

This year is set to be one of the more exciting years on record for those interested in the last human frontier. Between SpaceX resupply missions to the ISS and Virgin Galactic test launches, there are also many other interesting events to stay tuned to in 2015.

The first high-res pictures of Pluto will be beamed back to us on July 14th and sometime later this year, NASA plans to finalize its mission to capture an asteroid. XCOR’s Mark I prototype for its commercial, sub-orbital Lynx plane will also be tested.

If all of those happenings are not exciting enough, don’t forget to check out whatever the latest controversy is with Mars One. There may be more to come.

Regardless, it is an exciting time for investors and enthusiasts to think about space exploration. Mankind is aiming to land on asteroids by 2025, visit Mars by 2030, and even fund deep space exploration in the near future.

In the coming decades, asteroids will be harvested for minerals and tourists will fly in space on regularly scheduled spaceflights. That said, finding ways for investors to profit off this last frontier will be the real undertaking.

Original graphic from: Kapitall

Space Wars: The Private Sector Strikes Back
Space Wars: The Private Sector Strikes Back
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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.

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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.

RankCompanyCountryRevenue
(Q1 2023, USD)
1TSMC🇹🇼 Taiwan$16,735M
2Samsung🇰🇷 South Korea$3,446M
3GlobalFoundries🇺🇸 US$1,841M
4UMC🇹🇼 Taiwan$1,784M
5SMIC🇨🇳 China$1,462M
6HuaHong Group🇨🇳 China$845M
7Tower Semiconductor🇮🇱 Israel$356M
8PSMC🇹🇼 Taiwan$332M
9VIS🇹🇼 Taiwan$269M
10DB 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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