Global semiconductor fab equipment spending for front-end facilities heading for a massive 18% growth in 2026 to reach US$130 Billion, and with a modest growth of 2% in 2025 to reach US$110 Billion, as per the forecast by SEMI, an industry body representing global semiconductor equipment and materials manufacturers.
“The global semiconductor industry’s investments in fab equipment have been edging up for six straight years, and spending is poised to see a strong 18% increase in 2026 as production ramps to meet booming AI-related chip demand,” said Ajit Manocha, SEMI President and CEO. “This forecasted capex growth signals an urgent need for intensified workforce development initiatives throughout 2025 and 2026 to deliver skilled workers necessary for the approximately 50 new fabs expected to come online during these two years.”
Advanced logic and micro takes nearly close to 50% share of semiconductor equipment market, followed by DRAM and NAND flash with around 30% share. Here is the breakup of growth-forecast for each segment by SEMI:
Logic and Micro: Logic & Micro (includes advanced foundries) segment is projected to see an 11% increase in investments, reaching $52 billion in 2025, followed by a 14% increase to $59 billion in 2026.
Semiconductor memory: Overall memory segment spending is expected to grow steadily the next two years, increasing by 2% to reach $32 billion by 2025, with an even stronger growth forecast of 27% in 2026.
DRAM: Investments in the DRAM segment are projected to decline by 6% year-over-year, totaling $21 billion in 2025, but are anticipated to rebound with a 19% increase to $25 billion in 2026.
NAND Flash: NAND segment spending is expected to recover significantly, rising by 54% year-over-year to $10 billion in 2025, and further increasing by 47% to $15 billion in 2026.
China: Spending of $38 billion in 2025 representing a 24% year-over-year decrease. By 2026, spending is forecast to decline further 5% year-over-year to $36 billion.
Korea: Korean investment is forecasted to grow by 29% to $21.5 billion in 2025 and by 26% to $27 billion in 2026.
Taiwan:Taiwan is projected to spend $21 billion in 2025 and $24.5 billion in 2026 to meet the growing demand for AI applications across cloud services and edge devices.
USA: Americas region ranks fourth, with expected spending of $14 billion in 2025 and $20 billion in 2026.
Japan, Europe and the Middle East, and Southeast Asia follow in investments, projected to spend $14 billion, $9 billion, and $4 billion in 2025, and $11 billion, $7 billion, and $4 billion in 2026, respectively.
China imported $38.5 billion in semiconductor manufacturing equipment in year 2024, 19% increase from 2023 as per Information Network . These top non-Chinese equipment vendors each derived over one-third of their revenue from China in 2024 (37% to 47%).
Below table shows China revenue share of top equipment companies:
Updated on 16th Apr 2025
