Chip‑equipment spending jumps
Global spending on semiconductor‑making equipment climbed to $135.1bn in 2025, signalling continued fab investment rather than a one‑off hype cycle. That capex growth is paired with a strategic pivot: China is accelerating localisation of chip‑making tools while South Korean suppliers are shifting focus toward Taiwan as orders slip, reshaping regional supply chains and supplier choices. The combination matters because it turns geopolitical barriers into industrial policy that procurement and operations teams must plan around. (evertiq.com, digitimes.com)
The machines that make chips just had another boom year, which tells you the factory buildout is still going. Industry group SEMI said global semiconductor equipment sales rose 15% to $135.1 billion in 2025 from $117.1 billion in 2024. (semi.org) These are not the chips inside a phone or a server. They are the giant tools that etch patterns onto silicon, test finished chips, and package them so they can survive inside cars, data centers, and laptops. (semi.org) The spending was broad, not just one corner of the factory. SEMI said wafer-processing tools rose 12%, test equipment jumped 55%, and assembly and packaging equipment climbed 21% in 2025. (semi.org) The test-equipment spike points straight at artificial intelligence hardware. More high-bandwidth memory and more advanced chip packaging mean more steps to check whether each chip works before it gets shipped. (semi.org) At the same time, China is trying to change who supplies those machines. DigiTimes reported on April 9 that Beijing is accelerating localization of semiconductor equipment, pushing chipmakers to buy more tools from domestic vendors as United States restrictions tighten. (digitimes.com) That turns a purchasing decision into an industrial policy decision. A factory that once mixed American, Japanese, Dutch, and Korean tools now has stronger incentives to qualify Chinese alternatives for at least part of the production line. (digitimes.com) South Korean toolmakers are feeling that shift in their order books. DigiTimes said some Korean suppliers that had counted on China for growth are now redirecting attention toward Taiwan as Chinese customers favor local equipment more aggressively. (digitimes.com) Taiwan is the obvious fallback because it remains the center of the world’s most advanced chip production. When equipment vendors lose share in China, Taiwan offers customers still spending heavily on leading-edge logic and advanced packaging lines. (semi.org) (theconversation.com) So the 2025 jump in equipment spending does not describe one global market moving in one direction. It describes a bigger market that is also splitting by region, with China building a more local tool chain and foreign suppliers chasing growth in places like Taiwan instead. (semi.org) (digitimes.com) That is why the important question is no longer only how many chip factories get built. It is which country’s machines get approved inside those factories, because that choice can lock in suppliers for years after the concrete is poured. (digitimes.com) (semi.org)
