SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT MARKET ANALYSIS

Semiconductor Equipment Market Size and Trends

Global semiconductor equipment market is estimated to be valued at US$ 96.17 Bn in 2024 and is expected to reach US$ 179.63 Bn by 2031, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3% from 2024 to 2031.

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The market is expected to witness positive growth over the forecast period. Significant investments by major players for advanced technologies such as IoT, AI, and 5G boosts demand for semiconductor equipment. Rising penetration of smartphones and electronic vehicles is propelling the need for semiconductors. Development of semiconductor fabrication units in countries such as India also provide new growth opportunities. Furthermore, increasing consumption of semiconductors in personal computers and servers augurs well for the equipment suppliers. However, uncertainties due to geopolitical issues may impede the growth of the market to some extent.

Global Semiconductor Equipment Market- Drivers

Chip Manufacturing Technologies Advancement

The demand for more powerful and efficient chips is continuously pushing the boundaries of semiconductor manufacturing technologies. The size of features on chips has decreased significantly over the years due to the introduction of new process nodes, from 180 nanometers to 7 nanometers currently. Transitioning to smaller nodes allows packing of billions of transistors in a small die area which increases performance and lowers power consumption of chips. This boosts their application in various devices from smartphones to data centers.

Moving to smaller geometries requires revolutionary changes in lithography, deposition, etching and other fabrication steps. Traditional optical lithography is reaching its limitations at advanced nodes below 7nm. Chipmakers are heavily investing in next generation lithography technologies like EUV, multi-beam e-beam and direct imprint to tackle resolution issues. Mass implementation of these technologies requires development of high throughput equipment supporting large wafer sizes. Several companies are working on 450mm and even 500mm wafer tools to maximize chip output per batch.

Demand for wafer uniformity, overlay and defect control are also increasing exponentially at each new node. Advanced process control solutions leveraging artificial intelligence and big data analytics are being integrated into process tools. Metrology systems are evolving to inspect wafers at angstrom level resolution. Innovative deposition and etch solutions from semiconductor equipment makers are required for 3D transistor architectures like FinFETs and gate-all-around FETs.

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Advancements in artificial intelligence, 5G networks, augmented reality, autonomous vehicles and other frontier technologies boosts demand for specialized high-performance chips. Production of AI inference chips, network processors, self-driving SoCs and other application-specific ICs requires dedicated semiconductor manufacturing processes. Setting up these specialized fabs from scratch demands substantial investment in tailored semiconductor machinery and equipment.

Even general purpose computing and mobile device chips are growing multilayered with integration of different components like CPU, GPU, NPU, modem, and otherson the same die. Manufacturing such system-on-chips with multiple lithography steps and 3D interconnects needs equipment customized for each function and interface. Edge applications relying on IoT and mobile also demand lower power chips suitable for miniaturized form factors. This changes the needs for semiconductor equipment to focus more on supporting 3D shapes, new materials, and integrating different devices seamlessly.