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Taiwan and Korea follow China in chipmaking investment

rankings

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Chinese equipment makers like Naura and AMEC are expanding

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Americas and Japan to invest $14 billion each, compared to

China's $38 billion

AMSTERDAM, March 26 (Reuters) - China will continue to

invest more in new computer chipmaking equipment than any other

geographical region in 2025, despite a significant

year-over-year decline, industry group SEMI said in a report on

Wednesday, followed by Taiwan and Korea.

In its fabrication plant spending forecast, SEMI said global

investments in gear will rise 2% this year to $110 billion, the

sixth consecutive year in a row of growth, due to investment in

tools needed to make chips for artificial intelligence.

The impact of AI will likely be even stronger in 2026, SEMI

added, when investment is expected to grow by another 18%.

China is the largest consumer of chips and firms there have

been expanding chipmaking capacity for years, but they began a

huge sprint in mid-2023 and 2024 with government support, as

part of a drive to lessen dependence on imported chips and in

response to restrictions imposed by the U.S. government.

ASML, the largest chip equipment manufacturer,

forecasts 2025 sales of $32-38 billion euros, implying market

share of more than 25% for its sub-sector, lithography, where it

enjoys a dominant position.

Other top equipment firms include Applied Materials ( AMAT )

, KLA, LAM Research and Tokyo Electron ( TOELF ),

though Chinese equipment makers such as Naura, AMEC

and Huawei affiliate SiCarrier are growing

fast.

Chinese spending is expected to fall to $38 billion in 2025,

down 24% from $50 billion in 2024, but still ahead of $21.5

billion in Korea, where SK Hynix ( HXSCF ) and Samsung

Electronics ( SSNLF ) are expanding capacity for memory

chips.

Spending in Taiwan, where leading foundry TSMC manufactures

AI chips for Nvidia and others, is projected at $21 billion.

Among other regions, the Americas and Japan are each

expected to spend $14 billion in 2025, while Europe will spend

$9 billion, SEMI said.