SEMI: Taiwan surpasses South Korea this year, and China will surpass Taiwan next year

According to Jiwei.com, the Semiconductor Industry International (SEMI) announced that the shipment value of North American semiconductor equipment manufacturers in July was US$2.034 billion, a monthly increase of 0.4%, the second highest this year, and has remained above 2 billion yuan for three consecutive months.

SEMI estimates that the size of the global semiconductor equipment market may decline this year, but Taiwan, with TSMC leading the charge into advanced processes, is expected to surpass South Korea and become the world's largest equipment sales market.

The value of semiconductor equipment shipments in North America in July was still 14.5% lower than the same period last year. SEMI Global Marketing Officer and Taiwan President Tsao Shih-lun said that although the overall market was affected by the recent weakness of the memory industry and external environmental uncertainties, thanks to the investment in advanced processes by logic and foundry this year, North American equipment manufacturers' sales in July still rose slightly from June.

SEMI pointed out that although the global semiconductor market spending is relatively conservative this year, advanced logic and wafer foundry are the main drivers of semiconductor equipment demand this year. For TSMC, in response to the demand for 5-nanometer process from 5G and high-efficiency computing customers next year, TSMC has made active investments and decided to accelerate the construction of 5-nanometer production capacity. This year's capital expenditure is estimated to be higher than the original level of US$11 billion.

According to the mid-year overall equipment forecast report released by SEMI, it is estimated that the sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment by global original equipment suppliers this year will decrease by 18.4% to US$52.7 billion, lower than last year's US$64.5 billion. Sales of wafer processing equipment and other front-end equipment, as well as packaging and testing equipment, have all shown a decline.

However, Taiwan will surpass South Korea this year to become the world's largest equipment market, with a growth rate of 21.1%. Mainland China will maintain its second place for the second consecutive year, and South Korea will fall to third place due to reduced capital expenditure.

After going through the trough, SEMI estimates that semiconductor equipment sales will resume growth in 2020, and the growth rate may reach 11.6%, rising to US$58.8 billion. The overall equipment market is expected to recover due to strong memory-related spending and new factories in mainland China. At the same time, it is expected that mainland China, South Korea and Taiwan will still be the top three markets next year, especially mainland China will take the global championship for the first time.