TrendForce finds 4.3% QoQ drop in revenue for top 10 foundries in 1Q24

TrendForce reported that 1st quarter of 2024 marked the entry of a traditional off-season for the consumer end, where the sporadic appearance of urgent orders within the supply chain were mostly replenishment of inventory among individual clients, and exhibited sluggishness in momentum on the whole. Simultaneously, automotive and industrial equipment applications have been receiving ongoing revisions in forecast under escalating economic risks, including inflation, geopolitical conflicts, and energy shortages. AI servers, attributed to the extensive CapEx input and competitions among major global CSPs, as well as the establishment of LLMs (Large Language Models) between enterprises, became the sole support for the supply chain throughout 1Q24. On account of aforementioned factors, the top 10 global foundries generated a total revenue of US$29.2 billion at a QoQ drop of 4.3% in 1Q24. The top five foundries had been altered evidently in ranking. SMIC, having benefitted from obtaining orders of inventory replenishment for consumer products, together with the tendency of localized production, climbed to the third spot after overtaking GlobalFoundries and UMC. GlobalFoundries, due to repercussions from the revision of businesses related to automobile, industrial equipment and traditional data centers, fell to the fifth spot. Despite strong demand for AI-related HPCs, TSMC h...