Semiconductor 'War of Money'... Investment Surpasses 229 Trillion Won This Year, 'All-Time High'

IC Insights, Investment Amount Expected to Increase by 24% Compared to Last Year

The production line of a semiconductor factory (Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] As semiconductor manufacturers worldwide have made bold facility investments to meet the surging demand, the scale of semiconductor investment this year is expected to surpass 229 trillion won. This marks the largest scale ever, increasing by 24% compared to last year's investment amount.

On the 3rd, semiconductor market research firm IC Insights forecasted that global semiconductor industry capital expenditures on facility investments this year will reach $190.4 billion (approximately 229.24 trillion won), a 24% increase from last year. Before the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019, semiconductor investment amounted to only $102.5 billion, a 3% decrease from the previous year, but surged to $113.1 billion in 2020 with a 10% increase, and $153.9 billion in 2021 with a 36% increase.

This year's investment scale is expected to be the largest ever, increasing by 86% compared to 2019. If this trend continues, the investment amounts from 2020 to 2022 will record double-digit growth rates in facility investments for three consecutive years for the first time in 27 years since 1993-1995.

The surge in semiconductor orders is due to increased demand for electronic devices following the spread of COVID-19, as well as the acceleration of non-face-to-face interactions and digital transformation. The ongoing semiconductor supply-demand imbalance reflects the industry's strong commitment to actively increase supply.

In particular, since semiconductor foundry (system semiconductor contract manufacturing) companies are operating their factories at 100% capacity, even more aggressive facility competition is expected this year.

Taiwan's TSMC, the world's number one foundry by market share, plans to invest $42 billion this year, a 40% increase from last year. Taiwan's UMC and the US-based GlobalFoundries, ranked third and fourth respectively, are expected to invest $3 billion and $4.5 billion, increasing their investment amounts by 71% and 155% compared to last year. However, Samsung Electronics, ranked second, did not make the list of top companies with the highest investment growth rates.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.