The demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors is expected to drive the global semiconductor equipment market to its largest size ever this year.
On the 17th, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) projected that the global semiconductor equipment market will grow by 6.5% compared to last year, reaching a record high of $113 billion (about 162.26 trillion won).
This growth trend is expected to continue across all areas of both front-end and back-end processes, with the market size projected to reach $121 billion (about 172.75 trillion won) in 2025 and $139 billion (about 199.6 trillion won) in 2026.
By institutional sector, the wafer fab equipment sector is expected to grow from a record high of $96 billion (about 137.85 trillion won) last year to $101 billion (about 145 trillion won) this year, a 5.4% increase. Increased equipment investment due to rising demand for AI DRAM and high bandwidth memory (HBM), as well as large-scale investments from China, are expected to drive market growth.
The back-end equipment sector is estimated to see semiconductor testing equipment sales increase by 13.8% to $7.1 billion (about 10 trillion won), while assembly and packaging equipment sales are projected to grow by 22.6% to $4.9 billion (about 7 trillion won).
Ajit Manocha, CEO of SEMI, noted, "The outlook for the semiconductor equipment market this year has improved compared to projections made last July," and added, "The three consecutive years of increased investment in the semiconductor manufacturing sector is an indicator of how critical our industry is to technological innovation."