Global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales to reach $165 billion in 2026: industry body

Global sales of total semiconductor manufacturing equipment by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are forecast to reach a record high of $165.9 billion in 2026, increasing 23.2% year-on-year, the global industry body Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said on Tuesday. Total equipment sales are forecast to reach a record $229.5 billion by 2028, marking five consecutive years of growth due to AI-driven demand, SEMI said in its mid-year total semiconductor equipment forecast.

Beyond accelerating investment in AI infrastructure, the stronger outlook reflects leading-edge logic, advanced memory, and back-end technologies needed to support higher compute density, high-bandwidth memory (HBM)-related investment, SEMI stressed.

"Globally, firms are racing to develop cutting-edge semiconductor technologies. India is sitting on a sweet spot where all the operational and upcoming semiconductor facilities in the country have focused on traditional or conventional semiconductors. This will result in these plants getting an assured market, helping them get established," Ashok Chandak, president of the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) told ET. The global scenario is also creating sustained demand for mature and specialty nodes where India is well positioned to compete, he added.


Cutting-edge semiconductors, focused on advanced nodes, such as 3 nanometer (nm), and 2nm pack billions of transistors into smaller spaces using extreme ultraviolet lithography and are crucial for powering AI and high-end computing. Meanwhile, traditional semiconductors, including legacy or mature nodes of 28 nm and above, utilize older, highly stable processes that are cheaper to produce and better suited for heavy-duty, high-voltage environments.

Under the Centre's India Semiconductor Mission, 12 units have been approved till now with cumulative investments of around Rs.1.64 lakh crore. Spread across six states, these include both semiconductor fabrication units such as Tata's upcoming Rs 91,000 crore unit in Dholera as well as assembly, testing, marking, and packaging units. Three outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) units have begun production in Gujarat's Sanand, which will work on chips across 10-28 nm nodes.

These include Micron Technology's Rs 22,500-crore plant and Kaynes Semicon’s Rs 3,300-crore facility, which began commercial production earlier this year, as well as CG Semi's Rs. 7,600 plant, which was inaugurated earlier this month.

Chandak stressed that the robust global demand showcased in the latest forecast is expected to further drive semiconductor investments and help India attract further marquee commitments.

China, Taiwan, and Korea are expected to remain the top three destinations for equipment spending through 2028. China is projected to maintain the leading position over the forecast period, though growth is expected to moderate in 2026 following elevated investment levels in recent years.

In Taiwan, spending is supported by leading-edge capacity builds for AI and high-performance computing, while Korea’s equipment spending is driven by advanced memory technologies, including HBM. Equipment spending is expected to increase in other regions over the next 2 years as a result of regionalization efforts, government incentives and targeted specialty capacity expansions, SEMI said.