Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings for the first quarter dropped 19 percent annually amid an industry slump, but Taiwan bucked the downtrend with billings soaring 68 percent year-on-year, international trade group SEMI said yesterday.
Global semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings for the quarter fell to US$13.79 billion, from US$16.99 billion a year earlier, according to data gathered by SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan from 80 global equipment suppliers.
On a quarterly basis, billings from worldwide semiconductor firms shrank 8 percent from US$14.96 billion, the data showed.
However, billings from Taiwan jumped to US$3.81 billion, compared with US$2.27 billion in the corresponding period last year, SEMI said.
That figure represented a growth of 36 percent from US$2.81 billion of semiconductor equipment shipped to Taiwanese chipmakers a quarter earlier, the data showed.
That made Taiwan the world’s biggest semiconductor equipment spender, surpassing South Korea’s US$2.89 billion.
China ranked third with US$2.36 billion in billings, followed by North America at US$1.67 billion and then Japan, with US$1.55 billion, the data showed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was the biggest contributor to Taiwan’s billings. The world’s largest contract chipmaker has budgeted record capital spending of between US$10 billion and US$11 billion on new manufacturing equipment for this year.
Most of the spending would go toward advanced technologies, including the 7-nanometer (nm) and next-generation 5nm processes, TSMC has said.
TSMC is expected to be the world’s first chipmaker to offer 5nm technology when the company ramps up production in the first quarter of next year, extending its leadership in offering 7nm technology, it said.
TSMC last week said that it has invested US$50 billion on capacity expansion over the past five years to solidify its technological leadership and fuel revenue growth.
Two weeks ago, North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment reported a 4.7 percent monthly growth in worldwide billings to US$1.91 billion for April, marking the first monthly growth since December last year.
However, SEMI said that it was premature to call the upturn “an inflection point in this cycle.”
The improvement reflected expenditures for advancing technology road maps, it said.
The global semiconductor equipment sector has suffered greatly this year due to the escalating US-China trade dispute, which has led SEMI to predict global semiconductor equipment spending will this year fall 14 percent year-on-year before an estimated 27 percent annual growth next year.
It said the increase could come on the back of favorable Chinese government policies and potential growth from innovative applications in the areas of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and automotive electronics.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
Cryptocurrencies gave a lukewarm reception to US President Donald Trump’s first policy moves on digital assets, notching small gains after he commissioned a report on regulation and a crypto reserve. Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday and was trading at about US$105,000 yesterday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed. Smaller cryptocurrency ether has likewise had a fairly steady week, although was up 5 percent in the Asia day to US$3,420. Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular “Trump trades” in financial markets, gaining 50 percent to break above US$100,000 and
RSS