www.businesskorea.co.kr, Feb. 10, 2022 –
Samsung Electronics posted the highest sales among global semiconductor companies in 2021, while TSMC enjoyed the highest profitability. Samsung's semiconductor sales reached 94.16 trillion won, while Taiwan's TSMC posted an operating margin of 40.9 percent.
Samsung also made the largest investment among semiconductor companies. It invested 43.6 trillion won in memory semiconductors and foundry facilities in 2021. Intel invested 21 trillion won, while TSMC about 36 trillion won.
Samsung regained its No. 1 position in the global semiconductor sales standings for the first time in three years, beating Intel of the United States. Its semiconductor operating profit exceeded 29 trillion won, accounting for nearly 60 percent of its total operating profit in 2021.
Samsung's top priority for 2022 is to improve its semiconductor profitability. It logged an operating profit ratio of 31 percent in 2021, which is higher than that of the previous year but much lower than that of 2018, which was above 50 percent. The drop in the company's profitability was blamed mainly on huge facility investment and falling DRAM prices. Samsung said that it will continue its conservative investment in memory production facilities in 2022 to minimize inventory's impact on buyers and increase the proportion of highly profitable products.
TSMC solidified its No. 1 spot in the foundry industry by achieving an operating profit ratio of 41 percent in 2021. TSMC's sales reached an all-time high of about 65 trillion won (US$56.8 billion). Its sales were about 30 trillion won less than those of Samsung Electronics. But its operating profit were about 2 trillion won shy of Samsung's.