According to a report released by market research firm Counterpoint Research on Friday, the global pure-play foundry semiconductor market grew 29% year over year in the second quarter of this year, largely driven by a significant surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

In its report, Counterpoint Research noted that AI-related orders and capacity reallocation remain the primary factors behind the supply-demand imbalance observed across both advanced and mature process nodes. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) retained its market leadership in Q2 with a 73% share, ranking first for the second consecutive quarter.

Counterpoint Research attributes TSMC's robust performance to the mass production of its 2nm process chips, capacity expansion for 3nm technology, and supply shortages emerging in mature 8-inch and 12-inch processes as well as advanced packaging. Samsung Electronics maintained its second-place position, with market share essentially flat compared to the previous quarter.

Samsung Foundry's primary objective remains improving the yield rate of its SF2 process. Nevertheless, aside from rising wafer prices in the first half of the year, demand for SF4 and SF5 processes also served as key drivers of revenue growth.