Segment and Geographic Data (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended								12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Jul. 01, 2017 USD ($)	Apr. 01, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2016 USD ($)	Jul. 02, 2016 USD ($)	Apr. 02, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) Segment	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($)
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of reporting segments | Segment									5
Segment Operating Income Description									The Company evaluates business segment performance on operating income, exclusive of certain items ("segment operating income"). Only dedicated, direct selling, general, and administrative expenses of the segments are included in the calculation of segment operating income. The Company's calculation of segment operating income excludes such selling, general, and administrative costs as global operations, sales and marketing, information systems, finance and administration groups, as well as restructuring and severance costs, goodwill and long-lived asset impairment charges, and other items. Management believes that evaluating segment performance excluding such items is meaningful because it provides insight with respect to intrinsic operating results of the Company. These items represent reconciling items between segment operating income and consolidated operating income. Business segment assets are the owned or allocated assets used by each business.
Product sales									$ 2,603,428	$ 2,323,172	$ 2,297,165
Royalty revenues									94	259	3,323
Total revenue	$ 674,489	$ 677,883	$ 644,892	$ 606,258	$ 570,819	$ 591,955	$ 590,051	$ 570,606	2,603,522	2,323,431	2,300,488
Gross profit	176,501	189,273	172,963	160,875	132,445	153,901	146,128	137,309	699,612	569,783	542,220
Depreciation expense									148,883	144,521	154,340
Capital expenditures									170,432	134,635	147,142
Total Assets	3,459,189				3,077,801				3,459,189	3,077,801	3,152,986
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Impairment of Intangible Assets	0	0	0	0	0	(1,559)	0	0	0	(1,559)	(57,600)
Impairment of goodwill									0	0	(5,380)
Restructuring and severance costs	(6,079)	(3,244)	(481)	(1,469)	(7,060)	(1,197)	(4,467)	(6,475)	(11,273)	(19,199)	(19,215)
U.S. pension settlement charges	0	0	0	0	(79,321)	0	0	0	0	(79,321)	0
Segment Operating Income									577,634	441,418	404,331
Consolidated Operating Income	72,536	$ 92,328	$ 82,036	$ 64,688	(45,468)	$ 57,229	$ 49,408	$ 40,548	311,588	101,717	97,799
Unallocated Other Income (Expense)									(32,224)	(7,501)	(23,059)
Income before taxes									279,364	94,216	74,740
MOSFETS Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Product sales									468,294	406,336	426,672
Royalty revenues									0	0	11
Total revenue									468,294	406,336	426,683
Gross profit									109,436	58,155	58,626
Depreciation expense									34,731	34,531	47,172
Capital expenditures									33,475	22,430	29,289
Total Assets	412,598				389,482				412,598	389,482	477,984
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									74,002	22,254	21,366
Diodes Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Product sales									620,888	553,920	533,931
Royalty revenues									0	0	0
Total revenue									620,888	553,920	533,931
Gross profit									162,645	134,937	119,762
Depreciation expense									37,396	35,335	35,526
Capital expenditures									38,681	29,860	38,971
Total Assets	792,610				714,898				792,610	714,898	718,548
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									142,833	113,995	95,887
Optoelectronic Components Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Product sales									286,349	272,126	279,553
Royalty revenues									0	0	0
Total revenue									286,349	272,126	279,553
Gross profit									97,436	87,022	88,625
Depreciation expense									16,871	15,549	14,118
Capital expenditures									16,115	18,276	21,853
Total Assets	332,228				312,423				332,228	312,423	325,600
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									79,691	67,548	68,410
Resistors And Inductors Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Product sales									843,965	753,578	704,109
Royalty revenues									94	259	3,312
Total revenue									844,059	753,837	707,421
Gross profit									251,725	222,786	208,384
Depreciation expense									34,083	32,240	30,576
Capital expenditures									67,007	47,006	38,169
Total Assets	992,439				905,795				992,439	905,795	839,249
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									222,634	191,283	173,805
Capacitors Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Product sales									383,932	337,212	352,900
Royalty revenues									0	0	0
Total revenue									383,932	337,212	352,900
Gross profit									78,370	66,883	66,823
Depreciation expense									17,736	17,817	18,168
Capital expenditures									11,135	14,410	14,763
Total Assets	567,413				495,225				567,413	495,225	543,507
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									58,474	46,338	44,863
Corporate Other [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Product sales									0	0	0
Royalty revenues									0	0	0
Total revenue									0	0	0
Gross profit									0	0	0
Depreciation expense									8,066	9,049	8,780
Capital expenditures									4,019	2,653	4,097
Total Assets	$ 361,901				$ 259,978				361,901	259,978	248,098
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									0	0	0
Operating Segments [Member]
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									577,634	441,418	404,331
Segment Reconciling Items [Member]
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Impairment of Intangible Assets									0	(1,559)	(57,600)
Impairment of goodwill									0	0	(5,380)
Restructuring and severance costs									(11,273)	(19,199)	(19,215)
U.S. pension settlement charges									0	(79,321)	0
Segment Reconciling Items [Member] | Segment Reconciling Items [Member]
Operating margin reconciliation [Abstract]
Segment Operating Income									$ (254,773)	$ (239,622)	$ (224,337)