MILPITAS, Calif., June 18,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- To keep pace with unremitting
growth in demand for chips, the global semiconductor manufacturing
industry is expected to increase capacity by 6% in 2024 and post a
7% gain in 2025, reaching a record capacity high of 33.7 million
wafers per month (wpm: 8-inch equivalent), SEMI announced today in
its latest quarterly World Fab Forecast report.
Leading-edge capacity for 5nm nodes and under is expected to
grow 13% in 2024, chiefly driven by generative artificial
intelligence (AI) for data center training, inference, and
leading-edge devices. To increase processing power efficiency,
chipmakers including Intel, Samsung, and TSMC are poised to start
production of 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) chips, boosting total
leading-edge capacity growth by 17% in 2025.
"The proliferation of AI processing, from cloud computing to
edge devices, is fueling the race to develop high-performance chips
and driving a robust expansion of global semiconductor
manufacturing capacity," said Ajit
Manocha, SEMI president and CEO. "This creates a virtuous
cycle: AI will drive the growth of semiconductor content across a
diverse range of applications, which in turn encourages further
investment."
Capacity Expansion by Region
Chinese chipmakers are expected to maintain double-digit
capacity growth, registering a 14% increase to 10.1 million wpm in
2025 – nearly a third of the industry's total – after logging a 15%
rise to 8.85 million wpm in 2024. Despite the potential risks of an
overshoot, the region continues aggressive investment in its
capacity expansion, in part to mitigate the impact of recent export
controls. Major foundry suppliers including Huahong Group, Nexchip,
Sien Integrated and SMIC and DRAM maker CXMT are investing heavily
to grow the region's semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
Most of the other major chipmaking regions are expected to see
capacity growth of no more than 5% in 2025. Taiwan is forecast to rank second in capacity
in 2025 at 5.8 million wpm, a 4% growth rate, while South Korea is projected to take the third
spot next year, expanding capacity 7% to 5.4 million wpm after
surpassing the 5 million wpm mark for the first time in 2024.
Japan, the Americas, Europe & Mideast, and Southeast Asia are expected to grow
semiconductor manufacturing capacity 4.7 million wpm (3% YoY), 3.2
million wpm (5% YoY), 2.7 million wpm (4% YoY), and 1.8 million wpm
(4% YoY), respectively.
Capacity Expansion by Segment
Fueled largely by Intel's establishment of its foundry business
and China's capacity expansion,
the foundry segment is projected to increase capacity 11% in 2024
and 10% in 2025, reaching 12.7 million wpm by 2026.
Rapid adoption of high bandwidth memory (HBM) to meet rising
demand for faster processors required by AI servers is powering
unprecedented capacity growth in the memory sector. Exploding AI
adoption has driven increasing demand for denser HBM stacks, with
each stack now integrating 8 to 12 dice. In response, leading DRAM
makers are increasing investment in HBM/DRAM. DRAM capacity is
expected to increase by 9% in both 2024 and 2025. By contrast, the
3D NAND market recovery remains slow, with no growth in capacity
forecast for 2024 and a 5% increase expected in 2025.
The rise of AI applications in edge devices is expected to
increase DRAM content in mainstream smartphones from 8GB to 12GB,
while laptops using AI assistants will need at least 16GB of DRAM.
The expansion of AI to edge devices will also stoke demand for
DRAM.
Download a sample of the SEMI World Fab
Forecast report.
For details about SEMI reports on other semiconductor sectors,
visit SEMI Market Data or contact the SEMI Market Intelligence Team
(MIT) at mktstats@semi.org.
About SEMI
SEMI® is the global industry association connecting
over 3,000 member companies and 1.5 million professionals worldwide
across the semiconductor and electronics design and manufacturing
supply chain. We accelerate member collaboration on solutions to
top industry challenges through Advocacy, Workforce Development,
Sustainability, Supply Chain Management and other programs. Our
SEMICON® expositions and events, technology
communities, standards and market intelligence help advance our
members' business growth and innovations in design, devices,
equipment, materials, services and software, enabling smarter,
faster, more secure electronics. Visit www.semi.org, contact a
regional office, and connect with SEMI
on LinkedIn and X to learn more.
Association Contacts
Michael Hall/SEMI
Phone: 1.408.943.7988
Email: mhall@semi.org
Christian G. Dieseldorff/SEMI
US
Phone: 1.408.943.7940
Email: cdieseldorff@semi.org
Chih-Wen Liu/SEMI Taiwan
Phone: 886.3.560.1777
Email: cwliu@semi.org
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