Taiwan to rank No. 3 in fab equipment spending in 2025-2026: SEMI

Taipei, March 29 (CNA) Taiwan is expected to spend more on semiconductor equipment in 2025 and 2026 than any other country in the world other than China and South Korea, according to SEMI, a global electronics manufacturing and design supply chain association.

In a statement released earlier this week, SEMI said strong demand for fab equipment from Taiwan reflects the desire of Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers to push forward high-end chip technologies and expand capacity to maintain their lead in the world market.

Taiwan's semiconductor industry is expected to spend US$21.0 billion and US$24.5 billion, respectively, on fab equipment in 2025 and 2026, SEMI forecast, saying it will be aimed at growing demand for artificial intelligence applications across cloud services and edge devices.

China is projected to spend US$38.0 billion on fab equipment purchases in 2025, down 24 percent from a year earlier, and an additional US$36.0 billion in 2026, down 5 percent year-over-year, which would make it the biggest spender in the world, SEMI said.

South Korea is expected to come in second with spending of US$21.5 billion in 2025 and US$27.0 billion in 2026 on fab equipment as AI technology drives higher memory adoptions, prompting companies to invest in capacity expansion and technology upgrades, SEMI said.

The Americas are expected to come in fourth on estimated spending of US$14.0 billion in 2025 and US$20.0 billion in 2026, according to SEMI.

Worldwide, SEMI said, fab equipment spending is expected to grow 2 percent in 2025 from a year earlier to US$110 billion, marking the sixth consecutive year of growth, and the amount is expected to grow 18 percent to hit US$130 billion in 2026.

SEMI said the estimates reflect not only solid demand in the high-performance computing (HPC) and memory sectors to expand data centers, but also the increasing integration of AI applications, which is driving up the silicon content required for edge devices.