SEMI's latest forecast projects that global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales will reach a record US$165.9 billion in 2026, representing a 23.2% year-over-year increase. Driven by sustained investment in semiconductor manufacturing to support the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), the global equipment market is expected to grow further to US$229.5 billion by 2028, achieving five consecutive years of growth.

According to SEMI, the upward revision reflects accelerating investment in AI infrastructure, advanced logic devices, advanced memory, and back-end manufacturing technologies. Increasing computing density, strong demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), and increasingly complex chip architectures are driving semiconductor manufacturers to expand capital expenditures on production equipment.

SEMI President and CEO Ajit Manocha stated that AI is accelerating demand for chips with higher performance and greater energy efficiency, fueling continued investment in semiconductor capital equipment. Chipmakers are significantly increasing spending on advanced logic, advanced memory, testing, and advanced packaging capabilities.

By equipment category, Wafer Fab Equipment (WFE) sales are projected to increase 23.1% to US$143.9 billion in 2026, following a record US$116.9 billion in 2025. This forecast is substantially higher than SEMI's previous projection released at the end of 2025, driven by increased investment in HBM-related DRAM technologies, advanced memory, and leading-edge logic manufacturing.

SEMI expects WFE sales to grow another 21.8% in 2027 and 14.1% in 2028, reaching approximately US$200 billion by 2028 as chipmakers continue expanding AI-oriented manufacturing capacity and upgrading process technologies.

Meanwhile, the back-end equipment market is also expected to maintain solid momentum. Semiconductor test equipment sales, after surging 55.3% in 2025, are forecast to increase another 31.0% to US$15.3 billion in 2026. Assembly and packaging equipment sales are expected to rise 9.6% to US$6.7 billion. By 2028, sales are projected to reach US$20.8 billion and US$8.6 billion, respectively.

By application segment, foundry and logic equipment sales are expected to grow 18.9% year over year to US$78.0 billion in 2026, driven primarily by capacity expansion for AI accelerators, high-performance computing (HPC), and advanced mobile processors. The market is projected to reach US$104.7 billion by 2028, supported by large-scale production of next-generation 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process technologies.

Investment in memory manufacturing equipment is also expected to accelerate significantly through 2028. In 2026, DRAM equipment sales are forecast to increase 39.0% to US$38.8 billion, rising further to US$56.9 billion by 2028. NAND equipment sales are expected to grow 30.7% to US$13.9 billion in 2026 and reach US$20.8 billion by 2028.Growth across the memory segment will be driven primarily by expanding HBM demand, advanced DRAM process migration, higher-layer 3D NAND technologies, and continued investment in high-density memory architectures.

Regionally, Mainland China, Taiwan, and South Korea are expected to remain the world's three largest semiconductor equipment markets through 2028.Mainland China is forecast to retain the top position throughout the outlook period. However, following several years of exceptionally high investment, equipment spending growth is expected to moderate in 2026.

Taiwan's equipment investment will continue to be fueled by capacity expansion for AI and high-performance computing applications, while South Korea's spending will be driven primarily by continued investment in advanced memory technologies, particularly HBM.Equipment spending in other regions is expected to accelerate in 2027 and 2028, supported by supply chain regionalization, government incentive programs, and continued expansion of specialty semiconductor manufacturing capacity.