summary
The transition to AI and cutting-edge technology is expected to drive growth for the third year in a row by 2026.
Milpitas, California – July 22, 2025 – Semi forecasts that total sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) will set a new industry record of $125.5 billion in 2025, with a 7.4% increase from the previous year’s total semiconductor equipment perspective. The growth of semiconductor manufacturing equipment is expected to continue in 2026, with sales driven by a shift in cutting-edge logic, memory and technology to reach a new high of $138.1 billion.
“Following strong growth in 2024, global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales are projected to expand again this year, setting new records in 2026.” “While the semiconductor industry is closely monitoring macroeconomic uncertainty, the demand for AI fuels for chip innovation is driving capacity expansion and investment in cutting-edge production.”
Semiconductor equipment sales by segment
After registering last year’s record $10.3 billion in sales, the Wafer Fab Equipment (WFE) segment, which includes wafer processing, fab facilities and mask/reticle equipment, is projected to increase by $110.8 billion from 6.2% in 2025. Looking forward to 2026, sales in the WFE segment are projected to grow by 10.2%, reaching $122.1 billion. This growth comes from cutting-edge logic and memory capacity expansion to support AI applications, as well as the continuous migration of process technology between key segments.
The back-end equipment segment is expected to continue its strong recovery that began in 2024. Following a 20.3% year-on-year growth that year, semiconductor test equipment sales are projected to increase by another 23.2% in 2025 to a new record of $9.3 billion. Assembly and packaging equipment sales increased 25.4% in 2024 and 7.7% in 2025 to $5.4 billion. The expansion of the back-end equipment segment is expected to continue in 2026, with test equipment sales increasing by 5.0% and assembly and packaging sales increasing by 15.0%, marking the third consecutive year of growth. The expansion is driven by a significant increase in device architecture complexity and the robust performance requirements of AI and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors. However, growth in this segment is partially offset by the continued weakness of the end markets for automobiles, industrial and consumers.
WFE sales per application
WFE sales for Foundry and Logic applications are expected to grow steadily at 6.7% year-on-year to $64.8 billion in 2025, due to robust demand for sophisticated nodes. In 2026, the segment is projected to grow another 6.6% to $69 billion. Growth will be supported by increased demand for capacity expansion and state-of-the-art technology as the industry moves towards mass production on 2NM gate-around (GAA) nodes.
Memory-related capital expenditures are projected to increase in 2025 and show continued growth in 2026. Sales of NAND devices continue to recover from the sudden contraction in 2023. Stacking and capacity expansion. Meanwhile, sales of DRAM equipment, which increased 40.2% to $19.5 billion in 2024, is projected to grow at 6.4% and 12.1% in 2025 and 2026, respectively, supporting investments in HBM for AI deployments.
Semiconductor equipment sales by region
China, Taiwan and South Korea are expected to remain the top three destinations for equipment spending until 2026. China continues to lead all regions over the forecast period, but regional sales are expected to fall from its record investment of $49.5 billion in 2024. All other regions except Europe are expected to see a significant increase in equipment spending that begins in 2025. However, increasing risks to trade policy can affect the pace of growth across the region.
Semi-Forecast is based on collective inputs from top equipment suppliers, semi-global Semi-General Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) data collection program, and collective inputs from industry-recognized semi-world Fab forecast databases.
About semi-market data
Semi’s Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) provides comprehensive market data for the global semiconductor equipment market. The subscription includes three reports:
Monthly Semi-North American Billing Report, Early Perspective of Equipment Market Trends, Monthly Global Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS), Detailed Report on Semiconductor Equipment Claims for 7 Regions, and Bien-Annual Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast for Over 22 Market Segments – OEM Perspective, Semiconductor Market Market Outlook
About the cicada
Semi is the Global Industry Association that connects over 3,000 member companies and 1.5 million professionals worldwide across the entire semiconductor and electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. Accelerate member collaboration on solutions to industry top challenges through advocacy, workforce development, sustainability, supply chain management and other programs. Our Semi-Con expositions and events, technology community, standards and market intelligence drives the growth and innovation of our members’ business, devices, equipment, materials, services and software, enabling smarter, faster and safer electronics.
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