Data Storage and Automotive Continue to Drive Fab Investment into 2019

Device manufacturers continue to invest. Spending in cloud data center (compute, networking and storage), automotive (content per car increases), industrial (on content, factory automation, and positive macro trends), and consumer (gaming) end-markets is particularly strong.

We see capital expenditure growth in 2018 and early indications pointing to sustainable spending into 2019. We also expect 14 percent increase (YoY) for fab equipment spending in 2018, up from the February forecast of 9 percent, and expect 9 percent increase in 2019, adjusted from the February forecast of 5 percent. 92 future facilities/lines with various probabilities are scheduled to start production in 2018 or later.

Fab investment is just one indicator of how growing demand in areas such as from Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud/data storage, automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) is driving unprecedented spending in the semiconductor industry. Below are a few highlights* of recent SEMI FabView insights. Details of each project can be found in FabView online 24/7 or World Fab Forecast report (Excel format).

• Infineon’s new 300mm Fab in Austria – Infineon is planning a new 300mm thin wafer Fab for Power Devices in Villach, Austria.

• Rumors on Toshiba’s new Fab plans – More 3D NAND fabs in the future at Toshiba are feasible. The timing will depend on market conditions, and our forecast will adjust accordingly.

• Vanguard’s possible 300mm foundry fab – Vanguard’s management said it might buy or build a 300mm fab in the near future as all 200mm fabs are essentially full.

• Powerchip plans to build new memory fab in Taiwan – Powerchip is investing more in expansions since Memory pricing is holding up.

• Rohm announced to build a new SiC fab in Fukuoka Japan – Rohm announced its plans to build a new SiC fab.

• Micron is building a new fab in Singapore – Micron broke ground in a ceremony for a new fab in Singapore on April 4, 2018.

• Bosch had groundbreaking ceremony of their 300mm fab in Dresden end April 2018 – Investment of 1 billion Euro. This is the biggest single investment in Bosch’s 130-year history.

SEMI FabView, a mobile-friendly, interactive version of SEMI’s popular World Fab Forecast, delivers on-demand fab information such as fab spending and capacity for over 1,100 facilities, including over 82 planned facilities worldwide, across a wide range of product segments including Power, GPU, Memory, Foundry, MEMS and Sensors fabs. Fab data include region, start of construction, operation, construction and equipment spending, capacity, wafer sizes, product types and geometries. SEMI FabView subscribers receive forecast model updates through SEMI’s World Fab Database.  Click here for a trial to experience SEMI FabView first hand.*Actual updates provide more detail

Christian G. Dieseldorff and Clark Tseng, Industry Research & Statistics Group, SEMI