Taiwan’s spending on semiconductor materials expanded 13.6 percent annually to US$20.13 billion last year, making it the world’s top spender for the 13th year in a row, SEMI said yesterday.
Taiwan outpaced the global semiconductor sector, which spent a record US$72.69 billion last year, up 8.9 percent from US$66.78 billion in 2021, the industry association’s tally showed.
Wafer fabrication materials and packaging materials revenue expanded 10.5 percent and 6.3 percent to US$44.7 billion and US$28 billion respectively, SEMI said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The silicon, electronic gases and photomask segments reported the most growth in the wafer fabrication materials market, while the organic substrates segment largely drove packaging materials market growth, it said.
SEMI said that Taiwan’s robust performance was due to the “strength of its foundry capacity and advanced packaging base.”
In 2021, Taiwanese semiconductor companies purchased US$17.72 billion of semiconductor materials, led by foundry service provider Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest chip tester and packager, SEMI’s report showed.
China overtook South Korea to became the second-largest spender, reporting a 7.3 percent increase in spending to US$12.97 billion last year compared with US$12.08 billion in 2021.
South Korea slid to third with spending of US$12.9 billion, up 6.33 percent from US$12.13 billion in 2021.
Japan was the only region that registered a decline. It spent US$7.21 billion last year, down 1 percent from US$7.18 billion a year earlier.
Semiconductor companies in North America, led by Intel Corp, spent a combined US$6.28 billion last year — a 9.9 percent increase from US$5.71 billion in 2021.
Europe registered the fastest growth last year. Its spending increased 15.6 percent to US$4.58 billion, up from US$3.96 billion a year earlier.
SEMI did not provide its forecast for global spending on semiconductor materials this year. The figure could drop after Gartner Inc predicted an annual contraction of 11.2 percent in global semiconductor revenue this year, due to overcapacity and excess inventory.
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