Another report by Research and Markets has forecast investments in new fabs or capacity expansion to exceed US$160bn in China over the coming five to seven years
Global semiconductor equipment billings increased 51 per cent year-over-year and 21 per cent from the prior quarter to US$23.6 billion, SEMI announced today in its Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) Report.
SEMI, previously had noted that semiconductor manufacturers worldwide are on track to boost 200mm fab capacity by 950,000 wafers, or 17 per cent, from 2020 through 2024 to reach a record high of 6.6 million wafers per month, SEMI announced today in its 200mm Fab Outlook Report.
200mm fab equipment spending is expected to reach nearly $4 billion in 2021 after passing the $3 billion mark in 2020 and hovering between $2 billion and $3 billion from 2012 to 2019. The spending increase reflects in part the global semiconductor industry’s push to overcome the current chip shortage with 200mm fab utilization continuing at high levels.
US$160bn in China
Another report by Research and Markets has forecast investments in new fabs or capacity expansion to exceed US$160bn in China over the coming five to seven years.
“We expect this will drive an increase in China’s equipment spending to more $40 billion in 2025, with sixty percent of the investments going to memory fabs. We believe the expansion of product offerings by local equipment companies will result in significant growth opportunities over the coming five years,” read the report.
Setting up of memory plants by Samsung, Hynix, and Intel in China that has resulted in a strong CAGR of memory exports from China. However, given the continued growth of domestic tech demand as well as Chinese brand’s rising share of end tech products in the global market has meant that China’s demand for semiconductors has outpaced the growth of its domestic semis production and has increased demand for semi parts that it does not locally produce, resulting in larger net import of semiconductors.
The report continued, “Geopolitical developments in recent years, particularly the inclusion of several Chinese entities (notably Huawei, Hikvision amongst others) by the US on its restricted Entity List, further adds urgency to China’s initiatives to localize the tech industry and reduce its import dependence.”
