Balance Of Chip Power Still Tilts Toward Asia
(MENAFN- Asia Times) China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan will all have more Semiconductor production capacity than the United States at the end of 2024, according to the latest World Fab Forecast released by SEMI, the global semiconductor industry association.
Semiconductor fabrication facility construction data shows that more than 80% of the world's fab capacity is still located in Asia, with this year's estimated percentage slightly higher than last year's.
China's share of worldwide capacity is forecast to rise from 26% to 27% in 2024, while America's remains slightly below 10% and Europe's under 9%. US and EU efforts to rebuild their domestic chip supply chains are unlikely to bear much fruit until 2025 at the earliest.
Total worldwide fab capacity is expected to rise by 6.4% to exceed 30 million wafers per month (WPM) in 2024, marking a new record high. Calculated in terms of 200mm (8-inch) wafer equivalents, global capacity rose 5.5% last year to 29.6 million wafers per month.
SEMI expects operations to begin at 42 new fabs this year, up significantly from 11 in 2023 and 29 in 2022. The new facilities will produce wafer diameters ranging from 300mm (12-inch) at the large fabs run by TSMC, Samsung, Intel and other industry leaders to 100mm (4-inch) for specialty applications.
Capacity growth is being led by leading-edge logic (Intel) and foundry (TSMC) applications, including high-performance computing and AI, and by power semiconductors for electric vehicles. Production of silicon carbide power semiconductors is now migrating from 150mm (6-inch) to 200mm (8-inch) wafers.
Source: SEMI data, chart by Asia Times
Operations are expected to begin at 18 new fabs in China this year, lifting the nation's capacity by 13% to 8.6 million wafers per month.
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