In 2024, the global semiconductor equipment market sales soared to $117.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.16%, a record high. Asia plays a pivotal role in the global semiconductor equipment market, with Chinese mainland, South Korea and Taiwan accounting for 74% of the global market.
Ⅰ Investment in semiconductor equipment in Asia grew strongly
- Chinese Mainland: Chinese Mainland cemented its position as the largest semiconductor equipment market, with investment surging 35% year-over-year to $49.6 billion. This was mainly due to aggressive capacity expansion and government support. The Chinese government has introduced a series of policies aimed at increasing domestic chip production, reducing dependence on imported chips, and promoting the rapid development of the semiconductor equipment industry.
- South Korea: South Korea, the second largest market, edged up 3% in equipment spending to $20.5 billion. South Korea's strong competitiveness in the memory chip sector, the stabilization of the global memory chip market, and the surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory are driving the growth of semiconductor equipment investment in South Korea.
- Taiwan, China: Equipment sales in Taiwan fell 16% to $16.6 billion. Despite this, Taiwan still has an important position in the field of semiconductor manufacturing, with the world's leading wafer foundry. However, equipment sales declined due to overcapacity in mature processes and a slowdown in demand for new capacity.
Picture: Why Asia Leads Global Semiconductor Equipment Spending in 2024
Ⅱ Technological innovation is driving the development of the semiconductor equipment market in Asia
- Advanced process technology: With the explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and 5G applications, the world's leading foundries are accelerating the R&D and mass production of 3nm and below processes. Semiconductor companies in Asia are actively investing in R&D and continuously improving process technology to meet the market demand for high-performance chips.
- Advanced packaging technology: The heterogeneous integration of AI chips and HBM's 3D stacking technology have put forward unprecedented requirements for precision and efficiency on back-end devices. Semiconductor equipment manufacturers in Asia continue to make breakthroughs in upgrading advanced packaging equipment, such as AI GPUs and accelerator chips, which generally adopt chiplet architecture, and realize multi-chip interconnection through through-silicon via (TSV) and hybrid bonding technologies.
- Memory chip technology: HBM3E memory stacking has exceeded 16 layers and the bandwidth has been increased to 1.2TB/s, and its manufacturing requires complex processes such as wafer thinning (thickness control below 50 microns) and multi-layer stacking bonding in the packaging process. Memory chip manufacturers in Asia continue to innovate in this area, driving the growth of the related equipment market.
Ⅲ The future outlook for the semiconductor equipment market in Asia
- Growing market demand: With the continuous development of emerging technologies such as AI, Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, etc., the demand for high-performance chips and advanced packaging technologies will continue to increase. Asia, as an important base for the global semiconductor industry, is expected to continue to benefit from this trend and maintain strong growth momentum.
- Accelerating technological innovation: From more advanced process technologies to new memory chips, from high-bandwidth memories to advanced packaging technologies, semiconductor equipment manufacturers in Asia will continue to push through technological bottlenecks and drive the continuous upgrading of the device market.
- Intensified regional cooperation and competition: Asia will continue to maintain its growth strengths, but North America and Europe will not easily give up their technological leadership. In the future, the competition in the global semiconductor equipment market will be more diversified, and inter-regional cooperation and competition will become an important feature of the development of the industry.
Asia is playing an increasingly prominent role in the global semiconductor equipment market and is expected to continue to maintain its leading position in the future with its advantages in technological innovation, policy support and market demand. For industry players, grasping technology trends and optimizing regional layout will be the key to winning the competition in the future.
