The 2022 SIA Factbook: Your Source for Semiconductor Industry Data

by Semiconductor Industry Association

In 2021, amid the ongoing global chip shortage, semiconductor companies substantially ramped up production and innovation to address persistently high demand, leading to record chip sales and units shipped. Global semiconductor sales reached $556 billion in 2021, and U.S. semiconductor companies accounted for sales totaling $258 billion, or 46% of the global market. To remain competitive in the industry, U.S. semiconductor firms also invested $50 billion in R&D, the highest in history. These data points and many more are now available in the recently released 2022 SIA Factbook.

[Download the 2022 SIA Factbook]

The 2022 SIA Factbook presents a clear picture of the trends in the U.S. semiconductor industry and global market using data. Factbook sections include data on the global industry and market, capital and R&D investment, jobs, and productivity. Data is updated through 2021, and most of the data is presented over a 20-year period, which provides a picture of long-term industry and market trends.

The U.S. semiconductor industry is a key driver of America’s economic strength, national security, global competitiveness, and technology leadership. Semiconductors were invented in America, and U.S. companies still lead the global market, accounting for nearly half the world’s chip sales.

Still, the U.S.-based industry faces significant challenges. The share of modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity located in the U.S. has eroded from 37% in 1990 to 12% today, mostly because other countries’ governments have invested ambitiously in chip manufacturing incentives and the U.S. government has not. Meanwhile, federal investments in chip research have held flat as a share of GDP, while other countries have significantly ramped up research investments. And while America is still the global leader in semiconductor design—the complex mapping of a chip’s tiny and intricate circuitry—its lead is slipping and not assured.

To help promote innovation and ensure America’s continued technology leadership, policymakers should take the following actions:

• Invest in U.S. semiconductor leadership by funding the domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research, and design provisions in the CHIPS for America Act and enacting an investment tax credit encompassing both manufacturing and design.
• Implement a national strategy to improve our education system and increase the number of Americans graduating in STEM fields, and reform America’s high-skilled immigration system to enable access to, and retention of, the best and brightest in the world.
• Promote free trade and protect IP by expanding the Information Technology Agreement and approving and modernizing free trade agreements that remove market barriers, protect IP, and enable fair competition.
• Cooperate closely with like-minded economies on shaping a regulatory and legal environment more conducive to growth, innovation, and supply chain resilience in such areas as regulatory coherence, standards, and export controls.

Download the 2022 SIA Factbook for free today!