2024 Trends in Global Semiconductor Trade

Silverado’s new semiconductor report shows China’s alarming state supported growth across multiple metrics in the global semiconductor sector in 2024 and 1H 2025, with particular expansion in foundational semiconductors, including:

• In 2024, China maintained the most production capacity by volume, the most exports by volume, and was among the leading exporters by value.
• China has the largest projected semiconductor manufacturing capacity in 2025, at nearly double that of Taiwan, the next largest manufacturing country.
• By quantity, China exported almost three times as many semiconductors as Taiwan in 2024.
• China remains the top export destination for semiconductors from Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, and the United States.
• By volume, the U.S. imported the most semiconductors from China; by value, the U.S. imported the most semiconductors from Taiwan and Malaysia.

Key trends outside of China include:

• Taiwan continued to be the leading exporter (re-exports excluded). Though Taiwan’s exports decreased from 2023 to 2024, they grew strongly in the first half of 2025.
• South Korea’s exports reached record levels in 2024. The rebound in the semiconductor memory market drove an almost 39 percent increase in the value of South Korea’s semiconductor exports.
• U.S. semiconductor exports fell in 2023 amid a market slowdown but rebounded in 2024 to around historical levels.
• Logic and memory chips account for the largest value of shipments by product type in 2024, with memory showing the largest increase of all chip types (+79% from 2023).