Semiconductor Equipment Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

Global Semiconductor Equipment Market Trends and Insights

Surging demand for advanced consumer electronics and smartphones

Smartphones, wearables, and mixed-reality devices keep adding logic, memory, and analog content that must be built at ever-smaller nodes, pushing foundries to accelerate capacity on 28 nm–7 nm lines.^{[1]Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, “2 nm Technology,” tsmc.com} Advanced packaging that miniaturizes high-bandwidth functions without raising power budgets drove a sizable share of early-2025 revenue, triggering an upgrade wave in bumping, test, and lithography equipment. Heterogeneous-integration lines stacking chiplets vertically are expanding at double-digit rates, lifting shipments of flip-chip bonders and wafer-level inspection tools. Tool makers offering modular deposition chambers with rapid recipe switching are winning orders as consumer-product cycles tighten. Strong handset refresh rates across India and Southeast Asia keep mature-node tools running near full utilization, proving that resilient billings are achievable even during premium-device launches.

Rapid AI-, IoT- and edge-device node investments

Data-center operators seek chips that offer higher TOPS-per-watt, boosting procurement of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scanners and atomic-layer deposition modules used at 3 nm and below. AI accelerator start-ups in the United States and Europe are signing capacity reservation agreements that tie multi-year HBM purchases to guaranteed access to leading-edge lithography, shifting demand risk from chip designers to equipment makers. Edge AI devices for factory automation and smart-city deployments accelerate 16 nm–12 nm demand, spurring fresh orders for 300 mm etch systems tailored to embedded non-volatile memory. Tool suppliers deploy AI in situ process-monitoring algorithms, shortening recipe-development cycles and improving chamber uptime. The self-reinforcing loop between AI workload growth and smarter tools bolsters the semiconductor equipment market well past 2030.

Government subsidy waves are boosting the tool CAPEX

The United States CHIPS and Science Act, the European Chips Act, and comparable Asian funds are underwriting at least 18 fab ground-breakings in 2025. Tax credits slash payback times for lithography, chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD), and metrology assets, prompting IDMs to green-light capacity that pure economics once made marginal. Equipment providers are tailoring service contracts and spare-part depots to regional support requirements embedded in grant agreements. National security clauses often mandate local sourcing of subsystems such as vacuum pumps and positioning stages, giving rise to micro-supply chains near new fabs in Texas, Saxony, and Kumamoto. Subsidies are also steering tool development toward lower-carbon footprints, helping vendors secure procurement preference lists tied to greenhouse-gas reduction benchmarks.

Transition to GAA and High-NA EUV necessitates new toolsets

Gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet transistors introduce vertical channel structures that demand sub-angstrom control in epitaxy, spacer deposition, and selective wet cleaning. High-NA EUV lithography slices exposure footprints by 70%, but requires reticle-handling, contamination-control, and resist-processing equipment newly certified for tighter overlay budgets. Early tool shipments to Albany NanoTech and leading foundry pilot lines have triggered follow-on metrology demand, especially for 3-D atomic-force and optical scatterometry systems. Suppliers of dielectric deposition systems are redesigning hardware to accommodate the thermal budget constraints of GAA stacks. The interplay of novel materials and extreme numerical-aperture optics establishes a multiyear equipment refresh cycle that favors vendors with deep subsystem integration know-how.

Extremely high CAPEX and long pay-back cycles

A single advanced-logic fab now costs well above USD 20 billion, making the customer base for leading-edge tools increasingly concentrated. Lengthy depreciation periods stretch procurement scrutiny, compelling toolmakers to demonstrate multi-node extendibility before purchase orders are released. Vendors respond with upgrade-ready platforms, modular vacuum geometries, and subscription-based process-control software that spreads cost over a tool’s life span. Some IDMs delay capacity expansions, which defers installations and shifts revenue recognition to late project phases. Nevertheless, the relentless need for performance-per-watt keeps road maps intact, limiting the overall drag on the semiconductor equipment market.

Specialty-material supply bottlenecks are delaying tool shipments

Gallium, germanium, and other high-purity compounds face export restrictions that elongate tool-building lead times beyond 12 months. Shortages of extreme-vacuum valves and electrostatic chucks add complexity for suppliers of etch and deposition platforms. Some vendors have launched dual-source strategies, qualifying non-Chinese alternatives for rare-earth magnets used in stepper stages. Others build buffer inventories to cover six-month production windows, tying up working capital and raising unit costs. Although governments are financing new rare-earth processing plants, commercial supply will trail demand through at least 2027, weighing on the semiconductor equipment industry’s near-term delivery cadence.

Segment Analysis

By Equipment Type: High-NA EUV Drives Premium Tool Demand

Front-end wafer-processing instruments captured 83.7% of the semiconductor equipment market share in 2024, underscoring the central role of lithography, etch, and deposition in yield improvement. Within this segment, High-NA EUV scanners post a 21.1% CAGR to 2030 because they are indispensable for patterning 2 nm logic and 3-D DRAM structures; multi-system orders from fabs in Taiwan and New York already total several billion USD.^{[2]Center for Strategic and International Studies, “Albany NanoTech’s Potential to Support the National Semiconductor Technology Center,” csis.org} 

Backend complexity fuels innovations such as thermo-compression bonders with sub-2 µm alignment accuracy and fan-out wafer-level packaging that leverages front-end lithographic precision. Vendors that combine lithography optics, placement robotics, and high-frequency test modules into unified platforms are capturing a growing share of advanced-package budgets, extending lithography-grade investments further down the supply chain.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Supply-Chain Participant: Foundries Lead Capacity Expansion

Foundries accounted for 52.2% of semiconductor equipment market revenue in 2024 as fabless chip firms concentrate orders on TSMC, Samsung Foundry, and GlobalFoundries. Mega-projects in Arizona, Dresden, and Kaohsiung each feature clusters of EUV scanners, multi-chamber etch stacks, and atomic-layer deposition tools configured for rapid recipe swaps, reflecting the foundry model’s need to host diverse customer process flows. Strict uptime commitments drive bundled service contracts that now equal 25–30% of tool acquisition value, creating annuity streams for equipment suppliers.

OSAT houses emerge as the fastest-growing customer category at a 12.2% CAGR, propelled by 2.5-D and 3-D package architectures required for AI accelerators and automotive domain controllers. New capex lines include laser-drilling for through-silicon vias, high-density flip-chip bonders, and molded-underfill dispense systems. Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) retain a sizeable but declining share as they pursue fab-lite strategies that outsource leading-edge logic while investing selectively in power, analog, and sensor lines.

By Wafer Size: 300 mm Dominates While SiC/GaN Spurs Niche Tool Orders

The 300 mm node retained 62.2% semiconductor equipment market share in 2024, supported by record fab utilizations and new green-field projects in the United States, Japan, and Singapore. SEMI projects global 300 mm capacity to exceed 10 million wafer starts per month in 2025, sustaining brisk demand for batch-production etchers, CMP units, and automated material-handling systems. Yield-critical process-control tools that monitor defectivity across the larger surface area now command premium pricing.

Smaller-diameter tools are experiencing a renaissance as silicon-carbide (SiC) and gallium-nitride (GaN) power devices move toward 150 mm and, in select pilot lines, 300 mm production. ≤150 mm SiC/GaN equipment is advancing at 11.1% CAGR, led by high-temperature epitaxy reactors and ultra-clean implant systems. Infineon’s demonstration of 300 mm GaN wafers signals a future crossover where specialty-material fabs adopt mainstream automation platforms, opening a fresh opportunity set for tool suppliers attuned to wide-bandgap process requirements.

By Fab Technology Node: 2 nm and Below Ignites New Equipment Cycles

Logic at 5 nm and below captured 34.4% share of the semiconductor equipment market size in 2024, and the ramp to 2 nm is driving a 21.5% CAGR for the sub-2 nm tool segment. TSMC plans to start high-volume 2 nm production in late 2025, blending nanosheet transistors with backside power delivery to slash resistance losses. The node demands quadruple-pattern EUV, atomic-layer etch, and cryogenic ion implantation—all areas where only a handful of vendors qualify. Foundries hedge risk by ordering overlapping tool generations, keeping 3 nm lines warm for volume products while pilot-running 2 nm, thereby enlarging total addressable spend.

Mature nodes such as 28 nm remain vital for display drivers, microcontrollers, and analog ICs, supporting steady bookings for i-line steppers and wet-bench cleans. Specialty lithography road-maps track automotive quality-control standards, ensuring demand diversity across the entire node spectrum and stabilizing the semiconductor equipment market against isolated node slowdowns.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By End-User Industry: AI Accelerates Computing Segment Growth

Computing and data-center customers consumed 29.9% of semiconductor equipment market revenue in 2024, reflecting the insatiable need for graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI accelerators. Hyperscale operators pre-purchase capacity slots at 2 nm and negotiate direct wafer allocation with foundries, effectively pulling equipment shipments forward. High-bandwidth-memory demand forces upgrades in flip-chip ball-grid-array assembly lines and X-ray inspection tools that guarantee interposer reliability.

Automotive and mobility applications lead growth with a 13.8% CAGR through 2030 as electric-vehicle inverters, battery-management ICs, and advanced-driver-assistance systems (ADAS) proliferate. Wide-bandgap power devices rely on 150 mm–200 mm SiC epitaxial reactors, while radar and LiDAR modules stimulate orders for compound-semiconductor deposition and etch tools. Communications infrastructure continues to absorb RF-front-end and millimeter-wave device capacity, sustaining lithography and metrology demand at 28 nm–14 nm nodes. Consumer electronics maintains volume shipments at sub-10 nm nodes for flagship mobile SoCs, whereas industrial IoT drives incremental demand for ruggedized microcontrollers built on 40 nm platforms.

Geography Analysis

Asia-Pacific retained 72.2% semiconductor equipment market share in 2024, powered by dense ecosystems in Taiwan, South Korea, and mainland China; Taiwan’s foundry cluster alone ran above 90% utilization, sustaining EUV and metrology orders.^{[3]Pamir LLC, “Asia is set to power the global semiconductor market,” pamirllc.com} South Korea intensified spending on 1-beta DRAM and gate-all-around logic, while China’s drive for self-reliance lifted domestic etcher and deposition installations even under export-control pressure.

North America’s renaissance stems from CHIPS Act grants; Albany NanoTech took delivery of the world’s first High-NA EUV tool, creating a cornerstone for a domestic lithography ecosystem. Simultaneous investments by TSMC and Intel in Arizona form a corridor stretching from equipment assembly in Oregon to materials supply in Texas, re-balancing regional demand.

Europe sharpened its specialty-technology focus—automotive power devices, RF front-ends, and advanced sensors—using the European Chips Act to target a doubling of regional capacity by 2030; Saxony’s dual 300 mm lines already combine logic, analog, and power processing.

The Middle East and Africa logged the fastest growth at 9.9% CAGR, fuelled by Saudi Arabia’s USD 9 billion fab plan and UAE feasibility studies, which require turnkey tool-support contracts spanning training, refurbishment, and logistics. South America remains niche; Brazil is investing selectively in automotive and industrial chips that rely on mature-node 200 mm tools.