The report finds that shipment value of the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing industry - comprising mainly of foundry, DRAM, flash memory, and IDM sectors - reached US$ 11.5 billion, growing 17.6% sequentially in the third quarter of 2019. The decline in the frist half of 2019 was mainly attributed to relatively high inventory levels. As the inventory levels have reached the optimal level and TSMC’s advanced processes have entered mass production, the industry’s shipment performance in the second half of 2019 is expected to witness year-on-year growth. The market demand is anticipated to regain momentum in the second half of 2020 thanks to the surging demand for 5G applications and 8K TVs.