Taiwan is this year to yield its top position in the world semiconductor manufacturing market to South Korea and is to lose second place to China next year amid lukewarm growth in equipment investment, trade group SEMI said yesterday.

The nation is expected to budget US$12.62 billion in outlays for new semiconductor manufacturing equipment, up 3.19 percent from US$12.23 billion last year, SEMI data showed.

Meanwhile, South Korea is forecast to see a spike in spending on new equipment to US$17.89 billion, compared with US$7.69 billion last year, outpacing the annual growth rate of 35.6 percent for the entire industry, the data showed.

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“This year, South Korea will be the largest equipment market for the first time. After maintaining the top spot for five years, Taiwan will place second, while China will come in third,” SEMI Taiwan president Terry Tsao said in the report.

South Korea’s increased ranking might be attributable to Samsung Electronics Co’s US$26 billion in outlays this year.

Samsung’s budget is to be larger than that of Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co combined, market researcher IC Insights Inc said in a report published last month.

TSMC said it plans to budget US$10.8 billion on capital expenditure this year.

Global sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment are forecast to soar to US$55.9 billion this year, marking the first time the market has exceeded a record US$47.7 billion set in 2000, SEMI said.

China ranked the world’s No. 3 consumer of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment, as it plans to boost spending by about 17.49 percent from US$6.46 billion last year to US$7.59 billion, it added.

NEW RECORD?

Next year, the global semiconductor manufacturing equipment market is forecast to grow 7.5 percent year-on-year to US$60.1 billion, which would mark another record-breaking year, SEMI said.

South Korea is to defend its throne by budgeting US$16.88 billion for new equipment, down 5.65 percent year-on-year, SEMI said.

China is expected to accelerate spending with outlays worth US$11.33 billion, representing 49 percent annual growth, SEMI said, adding that the strong growth would push its ranking to No. 2.

Taiwan is to be unable to stem the slide in its ranking, as it is forecast to spend only US$11.25 billion on equipment, down 10.86 percent annually, SEMI said.

By: DocMemory
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