It may have been a lacklustre year in 2007 for revenue growth on the parts of TSMC, UMC and Chartered Semiconductor, but according to figures released by IC Insights, Samsung Electronics experienced foundry revenue growth of 413 percent in 2007 compared to 2006 and became the 10th largest foundry by sales.

The company's revenues reached $385 million in 2007, up from only $75 million in 2006, shortly after dedicating a 300mm facility to foundry operations and following news of its plan to diversify with technology alliances with IBM under its Common Platform Alliance.

Samsung not only outstripped revenue growth of pure-play foundries but also that of other IDMs that operate foundry services such as long-term player IBM.

However, the pure-play foundries retained overall dominance with 84 percent market share. Together, the ‘big four’ (TSMC, UMC, SMIC and Chartered) accounted for just over two thirds (68%) of the $24.5 billion foundry market in 2007, according to IC Insights.

European specialty foundry X-Fab continued its strong growth in 2007 from 2006, primarily on the back of its merger of 1st Silicon. The foundry saw revenues increase 41 percent in 2007 after growth of 44 percent in 2006.