42 new fabs in operation worldwide

Jessie January 04, 2024

SEMI's latest quarterly Global Fab Forecast report shows record semiconductor wafer capacity, including 42 new fab openings this year, nearly half of which are in China.

Growth in 2024 will be driven by increased leading-edge logic and foundry capacity, applications such as generative artificial intelligence and high performance computing (HPC), and a recovery in final demand for chips. Due to weak demand in the semiconductor market and the resulting inventory adjustment, 2023 production capacity expansion slowed.

"Recovering global market demand and strengthening government incentives are driving a surge in fabs investment in key chip manufacturing regions, with global capacity expected to grow by 6.4% in 2024," said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. "The heightened global focus on the strategic importance of semiconductor manufacturing to national and economic security is a key catalyst for these trends."

The World Fab Forecast report covers the period from 2022 to 2024, with the global semiconductor industry planning to launch 82 new fabs, including 11 projects in 2023 and 42 projects in 2024, with wafer sizes ranging from 300mm to 100mm.

Driven by government funding and other incentives, China's share of global semiconductor production is expected to increase. Chinese chipmakers are expected to launch 18 projects in 2024, with annual capacity growing 12 percent year-on-year to 7.6 million chips/month in 2023 and 13 percent year-on-year to 8.6 million chips/month in 2024.

Taiwan is expected to remain the second largest region in semiconductor production capacity, growing 5.6% to 5.4 million wafers per month in 2023 and 4.2% to 5.7 million wafers per month in 2024. The region is expected to start operating five fabs by 2024.

South Korea ranks third in chip production capacity with 4.9 million chips per month in 2023 and 5.1 million chips per month in 2024, with a 5.4% increase in capacity as one fab comes online. Japan is expected to rank fourth in 2023 with 4.6 million wafers per month and reach 4.7 million wafers per month by 2024, increasing capacity by 2% as four fabs come online in 2024.

The global Fab forecast indicates that there will be six new fabs in the Americas by 2024, and chip capacity will increase by 6% year-on-year to 3.1 million chips per month. The Europe and Middle East region is expected to increase capacity by 3.6% to 2.7 million wafers per month in 2024, as four new fabs will come into operation in the region. With the start-up of four new fab projects, Southeast Asia is expected to increase its production capacity by 4% to 10,000 wafers per month by 2024.

Foundry suppliers are expected to be the largest buyers of semiconductor equipment, with their production capacity increasing to 9.3 million wafers per month in 2023 and reaching a record 10.2 million wafers per month in 2024.

Due to weak demand for consumer electronics such as personal computers and smartphones, capacity expansion in the memory segment slows in 2023. Wafer capacity in the DRAM segment is expected to increase by 2% to 3.8 million wafers per month in 2023 and by 5% to 4 million wafers per month in 2024. The installed capacity of 3D NAND is expected to remain at 3.6 million PCS in 2023 and grow 2% this year to 3.7 million PCS/month.

In the discrete and analog segments, vehicle electrification continues to be a key driver of capacity expansion. Discrete wafer capacity is expected to grow 10% to 4.1 million wafers per month in 2023 and 7% to 4.4 million wafers per month in 2024, while analog capacity is expected to grow 11% to 2.1 million wafers per month in 2023 and 10% to 2.4 million wafers per month in 2024.

The latest update to SEMI's World Fabs Forecast report lists 1,500 facilities and lines worldwide, including 177 volume production facilities and lines that are expected to begin operations in 2024.