Global semiconductor equipment sales hit record high this year.
Growth is expected to continue and peak in 2022.
Korea is expected to see the highest investment in 2021 and 2022.


Global semiconductor equipment sales are projected to reach a record high this year. Furthermore, projections suggest that Korea will remain the largest sales region for the next two years.

The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) projected on the 16th that global semiconductor equipment sales in 2020 would reach a record high of $68.9 billion (KRW 75.252 trillion), up approximately 16% from 2019's $59.6 billion. SEMI also forecasted that growth would continue, reaching $76.1 billion (KRW 82.8653 trillion) in 2022.

Steady growth is expected not only in semiconductor front-end processing equipment but also in back-end processing equipment. The wafer fab equipment segment, which includes wafer processing equipment, fab facilities, and mask/reticle equipment, is expected to generate sales of $59.4 billion (KRW 64.7341 trillion) this year, up approximately 15% year-over-year, and is projected to grow 4% in 2021 and 6% in 2022.

The foundry and logic semiconductor sectors, which account for about half of the entire wafer fab equipment sector, are expected to grow by mid-teens percent year-on-year to about $30 billion (KRW 32.694 trillion) this year.

NAND equipment sales are expected to reach $14 billion (KRW 15.2572 trillion), a 30% increase year-over-year, and DRAM equipment is expected to lead overall semiconductor equipment sales growth in 2021 and 2022.

The assembly and packaging equipment segment is expected to generate sales of approximately $3.5 billion (KRW 3.8143 trillion), representing a year-on-year growth of approximately 20%. Driven by demand for advanced packaging, the segment is expected to maintain steady growth of 8% in 2021 and 5% in 2022.

The semiconductor test equipment market is expected to grow 20% year-over-year to approximately $6 billion (KRW 6.5388 trillion), and steady growth is expected in 2021 and 2022 due to increasing demand for 5G and high-performance computing (HPC).

South Korea, China, and Taiwan drove this year's semiconductor equipment market sales. China is expected to become the world's largest semiconductor equipment sales region this year, driven by aggressive investments in foundries and memory.

South Korea is expected to remain the largest semiconductor equipment investment region for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022, driven by investments in memory and logic semiconductors, while Taiwan is expected to continue its strong investment in foundries.