Date: 04/09/2009

64% growth in fab spending predicted by SEMI's world fab forecast

SEMI's world fab forecast predicts 64% growth in fab spending for 2010 to reach $24 billion. The major investments about $14 billion will come from six companies (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Toshiba, Samsung, Intel, and Inotera.), and these companies will contribute more than half of the total fab capex spending expected in 2010.

Christian Dieseldorff, senior analyst at SEMI, noted "Worldwide installed capacity is expected to decline by 2 to 3% in 2009 mainly due to the closure of 31 fabs. This overall capacity is expected to have a slow growth rate of only 4 to 5% in 2010, to about 21.5 million wafers per month (in 200 mm equivalents), and most spending in 2010 is expected to go towards upgrading fabs rather than expansion of installed capacity."

And the reports from SEMI provides high-level summaries, graphs, and in-depth analyses of capital expenditure, capacity, technology and products, down to the detail of each fab, and forecasts for the next 18 months by quarter. These tools are invaluable for understanding how 2009 and 2010 will look, and learning more about capex for construction projects, fab equipping, technology level, and products.

For more details visit www.semi.org/fabs