China to dominate fab building

New wafer fabs are breaking ground in 2016 and 2017.

The construction of at least 19 wafer fabs will start in 2016 and 2017 but that list will be dominated by China, which is responsible for more than half of them, according to industry body SEMI.

As a result, spending on chipmaking equipment which had started slowly in 2016 will pick up and result in a market worth $36 billion in 2016, up 1.5 percent YoY, and rise to $40.7 billion in 2017, climbing 13 percent YoY.

Fab equipment outlay, including new, secondary and in-house, declined by 2 percent in 2015. Activity in the 3D NAND, 10nm logic and foundry segments is expected to push equipment expenditure up in 2016 and 2017.

SEMI has listed 19 wafer fab projects with a probability of happening on time of 60 percent or higher. While some are already under way, others may be subject to delays or pushed into the following year.

Christian Dieseldorff, an analyst and research director who tracks fab construction for SEMI, said in an email exchange with EE Times that the 19 fabs set to begin construction in 2016 and 2017 is a low number by historical standards.

To read the full article, go to EETimes.