Recently, Tokyo Electronics (hereafter referred to as “Tel”) announced plans to build a new production facility in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. The facility is managed by Tel Miyagi, a manufacturing subsidiary of Tel, and mainly produces semiconductor manufacturing equipment such as plasma etching systems to meet the rapidly increasing demand for semiconductors in recent years.
According to Tel, the estimated construction cost for the new facility is approximately 100 billion yen. Construction will begin in June 2025 and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2027. TEL aims to make the facility one of the world’s leading semiconductor equipment factories.
Expanding the semiconductor equipment market
Semiconductor manufacturing is a very complex process and is well known to require different types of equipment at different stages, such as wafer manufacturing, packaging, and testing equipment. From a process perspective, semiconductor devices are also categorized as front-end and back-end devices.
Currently, the development of artificial intelligence (AI), big data, memory chips and other industries has led to the global semiconductor sector heading towards a trillion dollar market measure. This trend is expected to increase opportunities and growth potential for semiconductor device manufacturers.
Semi previously predicted global semiconductor equipment sales to reach $113 billion in 2024, representing a 6.5% increase from the previous year. The Chinese market is expected to achieve record sales of $49 billion. Additionally, global semiconductor equipment sales are projected to increase to an additional $121 billion in 2025 and to an additional $139 billion in 2026.
The global semiconductor equipment market is currently dominated by major international companies such as ASML, Nikon, Canon, Lamb Research, Applied Materials, TEL, ASM, and KLA.
Among them, ASML, a major semiconductor device manufacturer, released its full-year and fourth 2024 financial reports on January 29th. The data showed that ASML achieved record net sales of 28.3 billion euros and net profit of 7.6 billion euros per year. In the fourth quarter of 2024, net sales reached 9.3 billion euros, while net profit was 2.7 billion euros, both exceeding expectations.
Several Chinese A-Share companies have disclosed their 2024 performance forecasts
China’s semiconductor equipment industry remains behind international manufacturers in terms of technology, but with substantial efforts from the industry and strong government support, China has become the world’s largest semiconductor equipment market and is growing even further. .
Major semiconductor equipment companies in China include Naura, AMEC, ACM Research, Hwatsing, Piotech and Jingce Electronics. Based on 2024 performance forecasts disclosed by multiple companies, China’s semiconductor equipment market shows positive development.
According to Trendforce, of the eight A-Share semiconductor equipment companies that disclosed their 2024 performance forecasts, five revenue growth rates, three increased net profits.
(Photo credit: Nowra)
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