SEMI： In 2025, 18 wafer fabs will be built in the world, with Chinese Mainland accounting for 3
Jan 08,2025
According to SEMI's latest quarterly global wafer fab forecast report, it is expected that the semiconductor industry will launch 18 new wafer fab construction projects by 2025. The new project includes 3 200mm and 15 300mm wafer facilities, most of which are expected to commence operations between 2026 and 2027.
SEMI states that by 2025, the Americas and Japan will be leading regions, with plans to build four projects each. Chinese Mainland, Europe and the Middle East ranked third, with 3 projects planned to be constructed each. Taiwan, China plans to build two projects, while South Korea and Southeast Asia plan to build one project each.
New semiconductor wafer fab construction begins
The semiconductor industry has reached a critical moment where investments are driving the development of cutting-edge and mainstream technologies to meet ever-changing global demands, "said Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI." Generative artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) are driving advancements in cutting-edge logic and storage, while mainstream nodes continue to support critical applications in the automotive, IoT, and power electronics sectors. The construction of 18 new semiconductor wafer fabs will begin in 2025, indicating the industry's commitment to supporting innovation and significant economic growth
The "World Wafer Factory Forecast" report for the fourth quarter of 2024 covers the period from 2023 to 2025, and shows that the global semiconductor industry plans to begin operating 97 new high-capacity wafer factories. This includes 48 projects in 2024 and 32 projects to be launched in 2025, with wafer sizes ranging from 300 millimeters to 50 millimeters.
Advanced nodes lead the expansion of the semiconductor industry
It is expected that semiconductor production capacity will further accelerate, with an expected annual growth rate of 6.6%. By 2025, the total number of wafers per month (WPM) will reach 33.6 million pieces (calculated at 200mm equivalent). This expansion will be mainly driven by cutting-edge logic technologies in HPC applications and the increasing popularity of generative AI in edge devices.
The semiconductor industry is intensifying efforts to build advanced computing capabilities to meet the growing computational demands of Large Language Models (LLMs). Chip manufacturers are actively expanding advanced node production capacity (7nm and below), and it is expected that by 2025, advanced node production capacity will grow at an industry-leading annual growth rate of 16%, with an increase of over 300000 pieces per month, reaching 2.2 million pieces per month.
Driven by the chip self-sufficiency strategy of Chinese Mainland and the expected demand for automotive and Internet of Things applications, the mainstream node (8nm~45nm) is expected to increase its capacity by 6%, breaking the milestone of 15 million pieces per month in 2025.
The expansion of mature technology nodes (50nm and above) is more conservative, reflecting slow market recovery and low utilization rates. It is expected that this segment will grow by 5% and reach 14 million pieces per month by 2025.
Partial production capacity of contract factories continues to grow strongly
The OEM supplier is expected to continue to be a leader in semiconductor equipment procurement. It is expected that the production capacity of the OEM department will increase by 10.9% year-on-year, from 11.3 million pieces per month in 2024 to a record high of 12.6 million pieces per month in 2025.
The capacity expansion of the overall storage department has slowed down, with growth of 3.5% and 2.9% in 2024 and 2025, respectively. However, the strong demand for generative AI is driving significant changes in the storage market. High bandwidth memory (HBM) is experiencing significant growth, leading to divergent production capacity growth trends in the DRAM and NAND flash memory sectors.
It is expected that the DRAM department will maintain strong growth, with a year-on-year increase of about 7% by 2025, reaching 4.5 million pieces per month. On the contrary, the installation capacity of 3D NAND is expected to increase by 5%, reaching 3.7 million pieces per month during the same period.
The latest updated version of SEMI's "World Wafer Factory Forecast Report" was released in December 2024, listing over 1500 facilities and production lines worldwide, including 180 high-yield facilities and production lines expected to begin operations in 2025 or later.
SEMI states that by 2025, the Americas and Japan will be leading regions, with plans to build four projects each. Chinese Mainland, Europe and the Middle East ranked third, with 3 projects planned to be constructed each. Taiwan, China plans to build two projects, while South Korea and Southeast Asia plan to build one project each.
New semiconductor wafer fab construction begins
The semiconductor industry has reached a critical moment where investments are driving the development of cutting-edge and mainstream technologies to meet ever-changing global demands, "said Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI." Generative artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) are driving advancements in cutting-edge logic and storage, while mainstream nodes continue to support critical applications in the automotive, IoT, and power electronics sectors. The construction of 18 new semiconductor wafer fabs will begin in 2025, indicating the industry's commitment to supporting innovation and significant economic growth
The "World Wafer Factory Forecast" report for the fourth quarter of 2024 covers the period from 2023 to 2025, and shows that the global semiconductor industry plans to begin operating 97 new high-capacity wafer factories. This includes 48 projects in 2024 and 32 projects to be launched in 2025, with wafer sizes ranging from 300 millimeters to 50 millimeters.
Advanced nodes lead the expansion of the semiconductor industry
It is expected that semiconductor production capacity will further accelerate, with an expected annual growth rate of 6.6%. By 2025, the total number of wafers per month (WPM) will reach 33.6 million pieces (calculated at 200mm equivalent). This expansion will be mainly driven by cutting-edge logic technologies in HPC applications and the increasing popularity of generative AI in edge devices.
The semiconductor industry is intensifying efforts to build advanced computing capabilities to meet the growing computational demands of Large Language Models (LLMs). Chip manufacturers are actively expanding advanced node production capacity (7nm and below), and it is expected that by 2025, advanced node production capacity will grow at an industry-leading annual growth rate of 16%, with an increase of over 300000 pieces per month, reaching 2.2 million pieces per month.
Driven by the chip self-sufficiency strategy of Chinese Mainland and the expected demand for automotive and Internet of Things applications, the mainstream node (8nm~45nm) is expected to increase its capacity by 6%, breaking the milestone of 15 million pieces per month in 2025.
The expansion of mature technology nodes (50nm and above) is more conservative, reflecting slow market recovery and low utilization rates. It is expected that this segment will grow by 5% and reach 14 million pieces per month by 2025.
Partial production capacity of contract factories continues to grow strongly
The OEM supplier is expected to continue to be a leader in semiconductor equipment procurement. It is expected that the production capacity of the OEM department will increase by 10.9% year-on-year, from 11.3 million pieces per month in 2024 to a record high of 12.6 million pieces per month in 2025.
The capacity expansion of the overall storage department has slowed down, with growth of 3.5% and 2.9% in 2024 and 2025, respectively. However, the strong demand for generative AI is driving significant changes in the storage market. High bandwidth memory (HBM) is experiencing significant growth, leading to divergent production capacity growth trends in the DRAM and NAND flash memory sectors.
It is expected that the DRAM department will maintain strong growth, with a year-on-year increase of about 7% by 2025, reaching 4.5 million pieces per month. On the contrary, the installation capacity of 3D NAND is expected to increase by 5%, reaching 3.7 million pieces per month during the same period.
The latest updated version of SEMI's "World Wafer Factory Forecast Report" was released in December 2024, listing over 1500 facilities and production lines worldwide, including 180 high-yield facilities and production lines expected to begin operations in 2025 or later.