In 2002, Strategy Analytics predicted that only a few pure-play GaAs foundry companies would remain with the depth of investor pockets—a key determinant for survival. With the exit of companies such as Suntek very early on and GCTC and Knowledge*On more recently, we have seen this prediction come true, thus only a handful of companies remained at the end of 2006.
TriQuint Semiconductor will continue to hold the mantle as the world’s largest supplier of GaAs foundry services. Meanwhile, the deep pockets of Win Semiconductor’s investors have allowed the company to progressively build up its capabilities as a dedicated pure-play GaAs foundry by expanding both the company’s scale and process mix.
“Win Semiconductor is the world’s largest pure-play GaAs foundry company. As a privately held company with strong financial backing from its investors, Win Semiconductor has been able to continually invest in new process technology and resources,” observes Strategy Analytics’ Asif Anwar, speaking from European Microwave Week 2007 in Munich, Germany. “With expansion plans in place that will effectively increase the company’s wafer capacity by 200 percent in 2008, Win Semiconductor is well positioned to stretch its lead over competitors.”
“Together, TriQuint and Win Semiconductor accounted for over 60 percent of the total GaAs foundry market in 2006,” noted Stephen Entwistle, VP Strategic Technologies Practice. “While TriQuint is not a pure-play foundry, the foundry services offered by TriQuint are an integral component of the company’s success and TriQuint will continue to be the world’s largest GaAs foundry in 2007.”
This Strategy Analytics report, “Win Semiconductor Poised to Become Number One?” is available at www.strategyanalytics.net.