Global 300 mm fab equipment spending is expected to reach $118.8 billion by 2026, after a projected drop this year, according to new data from SEMI.
This year, 300 mm fab spending will drop 18% to $74 billion before rebounding to $82 billion with a 12% rise in 2024. In 2025, spending will rise 24% to $101.9 billion and then grow an additional 17% to $118.8 billion in 2026, SEMI forecasts.
Demand will come from the high-performance computing (HPC) sector, automotive applications and improving demand for memory all with double-digit spending in equipment investment during the forecast period.
“The projected equipment spending growth wave underscores the strong secular demand for semiconductors,” said Ajit Manocha, SEMI president and CEO. “The foundry and memory sectors will figure prominently in this expansion, pointing to demand for chips across a wide breadth of end markets and applications.”
Foundry is expected to be the leading segment for equipment spending with the biggest semiconductor segments to be analog spending followed by microprocessor/microcontroller, discretes and optoelectronics.
Korea is expected to lead global 300 mm fab equipment spending by 2026 with $30.2 billion in investments, doubling from $15.7 billion in 2023. Taiwan will be next with investments of $23.8 billion in 2026 and China will be third with $16.1 billion in spending.
