SEMI "Global Semiconductor Equipment Market to Grow 6.5% This Year... Record High"

6.5% Growth and Record High $113 Billion
Growth Across All Areas Including Front-end and Back-end Processes
Market Size Also Expected to Expand
$121 Billion in 2025 and $139 Billion in 2026

Driven by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors this year, the global semiconductor equipment market is expected to grow to its largest scale ever.

AI dedicated semiconductor chip. Photo by Jo Yongjun

On the 17th, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) forecasted that the global semiconductor equipment market will grow by 6.5% compared to last year, reaching a record high of $113 billion this year. This growth trend is expected to continue across all sectors of front-end and back-end processes, with the market size projected to reach $121 billion in 2025 and $139 billion in 2026.

By sector, the wafer fab equipment segment, which recorded a record high of $96 billion last year, is expected to grow by 5.4% this year to reach $101 billion. This growth is influenced by increased equipment investment driven by rising demand for AI DRAM and high bandwidth memory (HBM), as well as large-scale investments in China.

In the back-end equipment sector, semiconductor test equipment sales are estimated to increase by 13.8% from last year to $7.1 billion, and assembly and packaging equipment sales are projected to grow by 22.6% to $4.9 billion.

Ajit Manocha, CEO of SEMI, emphasized, "The semiconductor equipment market outlook for this year has improved compared to the forecast made in July. The three consecutive years of growth in semiconductor manufacturing investments demonstrate how crucial our industry is in driving technological innovation."