According to SEMI Global Fab Forecast, fab equipment spending totaled $ 57 billion in 2017, up 41% from the previous year and is expected to rise 11% to $ 63 billion in 2018. Although Intel, Micron, Toshiba and Western Digital, as well as many companies such as Grosvenor, have increased fab investment in 2017 and 2018, but the overall surge in fab spending is mainly driven by the likes of South Korea's Samsung and SK hynix.
SEMI data show that the overall surge in South Korean investment in 2017 was mainly due to substantial growth in Samsung spending, its growth rate is expected to reach 128%, from 8 billion US dollars to 18 billion US dollars. SK hynix's wafer plant equipment spending also increased by about 70%, reaching 5.5 billion US dollars, setting the company's highest record ever.
Although spending on Samsung and SK hynix, though mostly spent in South Korea, is still partially invested in China and the United States, SEMI also predicts that the two companies will continue to invest in 2018 Continued high.
Many Chinese fabs completed in 2017 are expected to enter the equipment installation phase by 2018. Unlike in the past, most fab investment in mainland China came from foreign manufacturers. In 2018, the wafer fab equipment of Chinese component manufacturers Expenditures will catch up with foreign vendors for the first time, reaching about 5.8 billion U.S. dollars, while foreign firms are expected to invest 6.7 billion U.S. dollars, including many new entrants such as Yangtze River Storage, Jinhua, Fujian, Hefei and Changxin, all in China Large-scale investment in mainland China set up factories in 2017 and 2018 semiconductor fab spending hit a record high, reflecting the market demand for advanced components continued to grow.
Spending on new plants has also hit a record high. The mainland China with the highest amount of expenditures in the first quarter of 2009 was worth 6 billion U.S. dollars and 6.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. This figure also hit a new record set in the past.