Taiwan’s spending on fab equipment for the semiconductor sector is expected to grow more than 24 percent this year from a year earlier, according to a research report released by global industrial association SEMI last month.
In the report released on Dec. 18, SEMI said that Taiwan’s fab equipment spending is expected to hit US$11.44 billion this year, up 24.2 percent from last year.
The growth expected for Taiwan bucks a year-on-year 7.8 percent decline expected for global fab equipment investment for next year, SEMI said.
Despite the decline in overall global fab investment, equipment spending for pure foundry operators is expected to grow 10 percent to US$13 billion worldwide this year.
Analysts said that the more than 20 percent year-on-year increase in fab equipment investment would reflect massive investment by contract chipmakers in line with the global pure foundry industry.
Taiwanese contract chipmakers are keen to develop high-end processes by spending more on production equipment in an attempt to maintain a lead over their foreign counterparts, analysts said.
According to SEMI, the almost 8 percent decline in global fab spending forecast for this year came after a revision of an earlier estimate of a 7 percent increase due to a fall in memory chip prices and uncertainty over the business outlook caused by continued trade tensions between the US and China.
In addition, pure foundry operators in China are cutting back production, while some chip firms around the world are scaling back capital expenditure in their 28-nanometer process, which would also contribute to a decline in global investment, SEMI said.
South Korea is expected to see its fab equipment spending fall sharply by 34.7 percent from a year earlier to US$12.09 billion, the association said.
In China, fab equipment spending is expected to hit US$11.96 billion, down 2 percent from a year earlier, SEMI said.
Investment in the Americas is expected to grow 3 percent from a year earlier to US$4.97 billion, while spending in Japan is expected to fall by 1 percent to US$8.65 billion, it said.
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