Speaking to nearly 300 executives gathered at the Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS) 2022 in early April, Inna Skvortsova, Market Analyst on the Market Intelligence Team at SEMI, said the global semiconductor industry is “demonstrating extraordinary growth powered by digitization of global economies and a surge in demand for semiconductors” as she presented upbeat industry forecasts for 2022 and beyond.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in materials consumption over the past several years,” Skvortsova said, citing the SEMI Materials Market Data Subscription (MMDS). “SEMI recently revised its 2022 forecast upwards to 7% growth following record results in 2021. Both wafer fab and packaging materials are contributing to the market expansion. Wafer fab materials are on track to grow 8.4% while packaging materials are set to expand 3.9% in 2022.”
Total Semiconductor Materials Market Growth to New Records
Fab construction investments from 2021-2023 are also reaching historic highs, with spending increasing 14% to nearly $26 billion in 2022 alone. Twenty-eight new volume fabs are starting construction in 2022, including 23 300mm fabs and five fabs dedicated to 200mm and below.
New Fab Construction Reaching Historic Highs
With capacity constraints a key industry topic, the SEMI World Fab Forecast projects 300mm capacity growing 11% in 2022 and 8% in 2023, while 200mm capacity is expected to increase 5% and 3% in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
“However, this industry growth is not without some uncertainty,” Skvortsova said. “Potential industry headwinds include inflationary pressures, ongoing supply-chain challenges and geopolitical tensions. The talent shortage is also becoming more pronounced as the industry pushes to expand production capacity.”
ISS 2022 also took up the hot topic of prospects for the chip industry to reach $1 trillion in revenue by 2030. Françoise von Trapp of 3D InCites sat down with three market analysts who presented at the event to discuss what it will take for the industry to attain that milestone by turn of the next decade.
Jan Vardaman, President and Founder of TechSearch International; Andrea Lati, Vice President of Market Research at TechInsights; and Bob Johnson, Vice President at Gartner all offered their perspectives.
See von Trapp’s recap of ISS 2022 SEMI ISS 2022: Finding A Sustainable Route to A Terabuck and highlights from Day 1.
ISS 2022 was themed Semiconductors Leading a Transforming World. The annual three-day conference of C-level and senior industry executives gives a comprehensive outlook of global electronics manufacturing, examining international economic, technology, market, business and geopolitical developments influencing the industry.
Michael Hall is a marketing communications manager at SEMI.