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Front-end fab equipment spending to rise 3.7% in 2016, says SEMI
Mar 14, 12:54 digitimes.com
Press release; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Monday 14 March 2016]
Front-end fab equipment spending (including new, used and in-house) is projected to increase 3.7% to US$37.2 billion in 2016, and will rise another 13% in 2017 to US$42.1 billion, according to SEMI.
For 2015, fab equipment spending decreased a slight 0.4% to US$35.9 billion, said SEMI. Spending is expected to pick up slowly in the first half of 2016, and accelerate into the second half when momentum starts to build for 2017 with a return to double-digit growth rates.
The biggest contributors to the growth are foundries, 3D NAND fabs, and companies beginning to equip and prepare for the 10nm ramp-up in 2017, SEMI indicated. Dedicated foundries continue to represent the largest spending segment. Spending for 2015 dropped slightly from US$10.7 billion to US$9.8 billion, but is expected to increase by 5% in 2016 and almost 10% in 2017.
DRAM spending ranks second place after foundries. After a strong 2015, DRAM spending is expected to fall 23% in 2016, SEMI said. Spending will increase again in 2017 by 10%.
In terms of spending growth rates, the big momentum comes from 3D NAND (including 3D XPoint). Spending doubled from about US$1.8 billion in 2014 to US$3.6 billion in 2015, a 101% jump, SEMI noted. In 2016, it will soar another 50% to more than US$5.6 billion.
The increase in equipment spending is also supported by six companies, which are among the top 10 spenders globally, SEMI identified. The six have announced plans to increase their respective capital expenditures in 2016, while the assumption for the largest spender, Samsung, is that capital expenditure will be less than in 2015.
Equipment spending growth for 2017 is also buoyed by new 24 facilities (excluding R&D) which began construction in 2015 or will begin construction later in 2016, SEMI said. These projects are located around the world, including eight planned in China alone.
The industry has recently set records for mergers and acquisitions, and more are expected in 2016, SEMI noted. The combined flat growth for semiconductor equipment spending in 2015 and slow growth in 2016 confirm a more mature industry. New technologies - new nodes and newer memory devices - will drive the increase in spending currently forecast for 2017.
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