Wafer fabs and packaging materials grow alongside expanding demand for AI and HBM
SEMI announced that revenue for the global semiconductor materials market reached $73.2 billion in 2025, a 6.8% increase from the previous year. The materials market hit a new record high as the expansion of AI semiconductor and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) production led to investments in advanced processes and cutting-edge packaging.
SEMI announced the results of its 2025 global semiconductor materials market survey on the 13th. It was found that rising process complexity, expanding demand for advanced nodes, and investments in high-performance computing and memory manufacturing have driven up demand for both wafer fabs and packaging materials.
Wafer fab materials revenue reached $45.8 billion, up 5.4% from the previous year. Lithography-related materials, such as photomasks, photoresists, and auxiliary materials, as well as wet chemicals, recorded double-digit growth rates. This is due to higher requirements for the photolithography process and an increase in process steps resulting from the transition to advanced processes.
Sales of packaging materials increased by 9.3% to $27.4 billion. Substrates and bonding wires led the growth. Substrates were affected by the expansion of demand for advanced packaging, while rising gold prices acted as a factor in sales growth for bonding wires.
By region, Taiwan maintained its position as the world's largest consumer of semiconductor materials for the 16th consecutive year with $21.7 billion. China ranked second with $15.6 billion, showing double-digit growth, while South Korea recorded $11.2 billion. Year-on-year growth was observed in all regions except Europe, with China and North America showing the highest growth rates among major regions.
These statistics are based on SEMI's Materials Market Data Subscription (MMDS). MMDS provides annual sales data, 10 years of historical data, and a 2-year forecast, and includes data for seven regions, including North America, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and China.
The growth trend in the semiconductor materials market demonstrates that increased investment centered on AI and HBM is driving demand for materials. As competition in advanced processes and cutting-edge packaging continues, the materials market is becoming an indicator reflecting both the semiconductor market recovery and technological transformation.