Who Makes the World’s Chips?

China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, Ireland, Israel and other chip-making countries compete by one metric: semiconductor wafer fabrication capacity by country. This bar chart race follows the global chip manufacturing race from 1990 to 2025, using raw wafer starts per month in 8-inch equivalent capacity — not percent share, not revenue, and not shortened “M” values. The United States starts as the biggest fab base, while Japan becomes the other early giant. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Taiwan and South Korea rise fast as East Asia becomes the center of semiconductor manufacturing. Taiwan grows through the foundry model and becomes one of the most important chip fabrication hubs on Earth. South Korea rises through memory and advanced manufacturing capacity, while Japan stays a major wafer-fab base even after losing its early lead. China becomes the biggest late-game story, expanding quickly through modern fab construction and mature-node capacity growth. By the final years, China, Taiwan and South Korea dominate the leaderboard, while the United States, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, Ireland and Israel remain key manufacturing bases. This is wafer fabrication capacity — not chip design market share, not company revenue, not exports, not company count and not advanced-node-only production. Taiwan is shown separately from China. From U.S. and Japanese dominance to Taiwan’s foundry rise, Korea’s memory boom and China’s massive expansion, this is the country race behind the world’s chips. Which country’s chip rise surprised you the most? Music: 'Song Of The Forge' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au Music: 'Simulacra' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au #Semiconductors #Chips #China #BarChartRace #Nacosta