The Semiconductors Equipment Manufacturers Industry (SEMI) said on Wednesday the global sales would be underpinned by original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs) investments due to robust demand for memory and storage.
KUALA LUMPUR: Semiconductor equipment manufacturers forecasts sales to exceed US$100bil (RM420bil) in 2022, which will be a new record as device makers continue to step up investments, according to a US-based semicon industry body.
The Semiconductors Equipment Manufacturers Industry (SEMI) said on Wednesday the global sales would be underpinned by original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs) investments due to robust demand for memory and storage.
In its “Mid-Year Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – OEM Perspective” at the “Innovation for a Transforming World”, SEMI said continuing investments by device makers in secular growth drivers are fueling the expansion of both the front-end and back-end semiconductor equipment segments.
The wafer fab equipment segment, which includes wafer processing, fab facilities, and mask/reticle equipment, is projected to surge 34% to a new industry record of US$81.70bil in 2021, followed by a 6% increase in 2022 to more than US$86bil.
The foundry and logic segments, accounting for more than a half of total wafer fab equipment sales, will grow 39% year-over-year to reach US$45.7bil in 2021.
Underpinning this growth is the strong demand for leading-edge technologies powered by the digitisation of industries worldwide.
“The growth momentum is expected to continue in 2022 with the foundry and logic equipment investments rising another 8%, ” it said.
SEMI said the report showed robust demand for memory and storage are driving spending on NAND and DRAM manufacturing equipment.
The DRAM equipment segment is expected to lead the expansion in 2021, surging 46% to surpass US$14bil.
The NAND flash equipment market is projected to increase 13% in 2021 to US$17.4bil and 9% in 2022 to US$18.9bil, respectively.
SEMI said the assembly and packaging equipment segment is forecast to grow 56% to US$6bil in 2021, followed by a 6% increase in 2022, driven by Advanced Packaging
applications.
As for the semiconductor test equipment market, SEMI said it is expected to grow 26% in 2021 to US$7.6bil and expand another 6% in 2022 on demand for 5G and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.
“Regionally, South Korea, Taiwan and China are projected to remain the top three destinations for equipment spending in 2021, with Korea at the top on the strength of a robust memory recovery and strong investments in leading-edge logic and foundry.
“Equipment spending for all regions tracked are expected to grow in 2021, ” it said.
The current SEMI forecast is based on collective input from top equipment suppliers, the SEMI Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) data collection programme and the SEMI World Fab Forecast database.
