Spending on fab between 2024 and 2030 will be more than $1.5 trillion to supply a market worth over $1 trillion by 2030, says PwC.

That matches the spend of the last 20 years and is driven largely by government subsidies and efforts to stabilise supply chains.

$1.5trn spend on fab 2024-30, forecasts PwCThe PwC report primarily attributes the surge in investment to the growth of the global server and network markets.

AI workloads are driving the growth of the global server market to an expected $300 billion plus in 2030.

The report also highlights the importance of supply-side design and transformation in strengthening the semiconductor ecosystem, driven by close collaboration among fabless companies, foundries and IP vendors.

However, the industry faces a growing talent gap, with an additional 100,000 engineers required to support anticipated design growth by 2030.

According to the report, by 2030, the server and network segment is expected to become the largest semiconductor demand market.

The revenue share of AI accelerators in datacentres is projected to reach about 50% of the total.

As services incorporating AI algorithms expand across diverse industries and the need for cost-effective semiconductors grows, not only traditional fabless companies but also major tech players like cloud service providers are venturing into the development of AI accelerators optimised for their datacentres.

The report identifies the automotive industry as the second-fastest growing sector. It is anticipated to grow at an annual rate of 10.7%, propelled by advances in electric vehicles and autonomous driving technologies.

The report anticipates that hybrid and EVs might account for around 50% of the total vehicle sales by 2030 and power semiconductors may account for more than 50% of the total semiconductor cost.

This may spur demand for wide-bandgap semiconductors like SiC and GaN to replace silicon in EV power electronics—enhancing efficiency, power density, and charging speed.

By 2030, more than 60% of power semiconductors in the automotive sector industry are expected to be GaN and SiC – a significant increase from the 23% share both currently jointly hold.

The report also found the home appliance sector is anticipated to grow by +5.6%, with new devices like AR/VR and personal robots projected to grow by 24.5% and 12.9% respectively by 2030.

The growth of AI appliances may significantly increase the demand for AI processors and semiconductors such as power management ICs (PMICs), enabling both power efficiency and personalised experience.

By: DocMemory
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