fab

Global fab equipment spending promises to crawl out of a gloomy 2019 and see a modest recovery this year before a sharp uptick drives record investments in 2021 in a vivid display of the decades-old cyclicality playing out in the semiconductor industry.

The December 2018 edition of the World Fab Forecast Report published by SEMI reveals a downward revision of total fab equipment spending growth for 2018 to 10% from the 14% forecast in August. Spending in 2019 is now projected to drop 8%, a reversal from the previously expected increase of 7%.

Global fab equipment spending will increase 14% this year to US$62.8B and is expected to rise 7.5%, to US$67.5B in 2019, marking the highest investment year for fab equipment in the history of the industry, according to SEMI's latest World Fab Forecast Report.