Chip‑equipment boom
Global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales reached a record $135.1 billion in 2025 as AI demand pushed investment across lithography, deposition, testing and fab tooling. (digitimes.com) TSMC is committing about $165 billion to build Arizona fabs while Taiwan science parks report near‑capacity strain — even as Samsung struggles to reach viable yields on its 2nm process. ( )
The machines that make chips are selling at record levels as artificial intelligence spending pushes foundries to add capacity faster than sites can be built. (semi.org) Industry group SEMI said worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales rose 15 percent to $135.1 billion in 2025, up from $117.1 billion in 2024. SEMI said the increase came from investment in advanced logic, memory and artificial-intelligence-related capacity. (semi.org) That spending covers the factory tools behind chipmaking: lithography machines that print circuit patterns, deposition systems that add ultra-thin layers, and test gear that screens finished chips before shipment. DIGITIMES reported the 2025 surge spread across lithography, deposition, testing and other fab tools. (digitimes.com) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is one of the clearest examples of the buildout. On March 4, 2025, it said it would add $100 billion to its United States expansion, bringing its planned Arizona investment to $165 billion. (tsmc.com) TSMC’s Arizona plan now includes six wafer fabs, two advanced packaging facilities and a research-and-development center, according to the company’s Arizona site. TSMC says the project has grown from an initial $12 billion commitment in 2020 to what it calls the largest foreign direct investment in a greenfield project in U.S. history. (tsmc.com) The pressure is not limited to the United States. DIGITIMES reported on April 9 that Taiwan’s science parks are nearing full capacity, pushing the government to speed up land, infrastructure and next-generation industry expansion. (digitimes.com) Taiwan’s science parks already posted record business in 2025. The National Science and Technology Council said combined revenue at the three parks reached a record NT$5.8 trillion, with integrated circuits up 26.8 percent to NT$4.83 trillion. (taiwannews.com.tw) Not every chipmaker is scaling at the same pace. SamMobile reported on April 13, citing a South Korean report, that Samsung Foundry’s 2-nanometer yields remain around 55 percent and fall into the 40 percent range after back-end processing, below the level usually associated with stable mass production. (sammobile.com) In chipmaking, yield is the share of usable chips that come off a wafer, so weak yield turns expensive new equipment into a slower payoff. That is why the current boom is producing two stories at once: record orders for tools, and a race among foundries to prove those tools can deliver enough working chips. (sammobile.com, semi.org))
