AI demand is surging, and spending on 12-inch wafer fab equipment is estimated to exceed $150 billion next year.
TechNews Report
April 2, 2026
Author: Chang Chien-chung, Central News Agency
April 2, 2026
Author: Chang Chien-chung, Central News Agency
SEMI forecasts that global spending on 12-inch wafer fab equipment will reach US$133 billion in 2026, an increase of 18%, and is expected to increase by another 14% in 2027, exceeding US$150 billion for the first time. Strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips from data centers and edge devices, coupled with increasing regional emphasis on semiconductor self-sufficiency, are the main driving forces.
The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) released its 12-inch wafer fab outlook report, stating that artificial intelligence is reshaping the scale of semiconductor manufacturing investment. Global spending on 12-inch wafer fab equipment is projected to exceed US$150 billion for the first time in 2027, demonstrating the semiconductor industry's historic and sustained commitment to advanced capacity and resilient supply chains, driving the arrival of the AI era.
SEMI forecasts that global spending on 12-inch wafer fab equipment will reach $133 billion in 2026, $151 billion in 2027, $155 billion in 2028, and further $172 billion in 2029.
SEMI points out that advanced processes are crucial for improving chip performance and energy efficiency, leading to strong investment from foundries in sub-2nm advanced process capacity. Furthermore, the booming development of edge AI is driving investment in mature processes. Investment in logic ICs is the main driver of growth in 12-inch wafer fab equipment spending.
Driven by AI training and inference, memory demand is growing significantly. Specifically, AI training is driving demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), while model inference is boosting demand for data center storage flash memory (NAND Flash), resulting in strong investment across the memory supply chain.
SEMI stated that due to the expansion of advanced process and memory capacity, as well as policy support for supply chain localization, investment in Taiwan, South Korea, the Americas, and China will grow significantly, while investment in Japan, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia will continue to expand.
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