Global fabrication equipment spending for front-end facilities will see an anticipated nine percent year-over-year growth to an “all-time high” of US$99bn (£87.6m) in 2022, according to electronics manufacturing industry association Semi.
The figure was published in Semi’s most recent quarterly World Fab Forecast report, which also shows the global fabrication equipment industry increased in capacity by eight percent in 2022, and is set to follow suit in 2023.
Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of Semi, said: “After achieving a record level in 2022, the global fab equipment market is projected to remain healthy next year driven by new fabs and upgrade activity.”
Taiwan is predicted to lead fabrication equipment spending in 2022, increasing investments 47% Y-o-Y to US$30bn (£26.5bn), followed by South Korea at US$22.2bn (£19.6m), a 5.5% decline, and China at US$22bn (£19.4m), a 11.7% percent drop from its peak last year.
Europe/Mideast is expected to reach record spending of US$6.6bn (£5.8m) for 2022.
Strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) advanced technologies has been attributed to the region’s spending increase. The Americas and Southeast Asia are predicted to make record-breaking investments in 2023.
The foundry sector, with a share of 53%, is expected to represent the bulk of equipment spending in 2022 and 2023, followed by memory at 32% in 2022 and 33% in 2023 – both of which also make up the biggest capacity increases.
