Efforts Toward "Technological Self-Sufficiency" by Alibaba and Others
Report from Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International
Taiwan Expected to Remain No. 2 Market, South Korea No. 3
A technician is inspecting semiconductor process equipment at a semiconductor manufacturing plant located in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, eastern China. Photo by AFP Yonhap News.
China is expected to maintain its position as the largest buyer in the global semiconductor manufacturing equipment market through 2027. As China continues its competition with the United States for semiconductor supremacy, it is anticipated that the country will sustain its investments in related facilities for the time being in pursuit of technological self-sufficiency.
On December 19, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) cited the latest report from the international Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), reporting that "as Chinese semiconductor companies continue their facility investments, China will remain the world's largest purchaser of semiconductor equipment at least through 2027."
Amid intensifying competition between the U.S. and China over semiconductor dominance, China is accelerating the development of domestic alternatives, particularly through technology companies such as Huawei, Alibaba, and Baidu. Last month, Reuters reported that the Chinese government had instructed data centers receiving any level of state funding to stop using foreign-made artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
However, SEMI forecasts that the growth rate of China's equipment investments will gradually slow, and that related sales will begin to enter a phase of moderate decline starting in 2026.
Following China, Taiwan and South Korea are expected to maintain their positions as the second and third largest buyers of semiconductor equipment, respectively. The report explained that in Taiwan, large-scale capacity expansions to meet rising demand for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) are driving related investments.
In South Korea, investments in advanced memory semiconductors are fueling equipment demand, with the expansion of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production-an essential component for AI servers-cited as a key factor behind the investments.
In the global market, the sales of semiconductor equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are projected to reach a record high of $133 billion (approximately 197 trillion won) this year, up 13.7% from the previous year. Sales are expected to rise to $145 billion (about 214 trillion won) in 2025 and $156 billion (about 231 trillion won) in 2027.
Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI, stated, "The global semiconductor equipment market is demonstrating strong growth, with three consecutive years of expansion expected in both front-end and back-end processes. Investments related to AI have exceeded annual expectations, prompting us to raise our outlook across all segments."
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