China seen leading in chipmaking investment again in 2025, SEMI group says

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - China will continue to invest more in new computer chipmaking equipment than any other geographical region in 2025, despite a significant year-over-year decline, industry group SEMI said in a report on Wednesday, followed by Taiwan and Korea.

In its fabrication plant spending forecast, SEMI said global investments in gear will rise 2% this year to $110 billion, the sixth consecutive year in a row of growth, due to investment in tools needed to make chips for artificial intelligence.

The impact of AI will likely be even stronger in 2026, SEMI added, when investment is expected to grow by another 18%.

China is the largest consumer of chips and firms there have been expanding chipmaking capacity for years, but they began a huge sprint in mid-2023 and 2024 with government support, as part of a drive to lessen dependence on imported chips and in response to restrictions imposed by the U.S. government.

ASML, the largest chip equipment manufacturer, forecasts 2025 sales of $32-38 billion euros, implying market share of more than 25% for its sub-sector, lithography, where it enjoys a dominant position. 

Other top equipment firms include Applied Materials, KLA, LAM Research and Tokyo Electron, though Chinese equipment makers such as Naura, AMEC and Huawei affiliate SiCarrier are growing fast. 

Chinese spending is expected to fall to $38 billion in 2025, down 24% from $50 billion in 2024, but still ahead of $21.5 billion in Korea, where SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are expanding capacity for memory chips. 

Spending in Taiwan, where leading foundry TSMC manufactures AI chips for Nvidia and others, is projected at $21 billion.

Among other regions, the Americas and Japan are each expected to spend $14 billion in 2025, while Europe will spend $9 billion, SEMI said.

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Kim Coghill)