South Korea Ranks 3rd Globally in Semiconductor Material Consumption... 16% Increase Last Year

South Korea Ranks 3rd Globally with $10.572 Billion, Following Taiwan and China

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Last year, when semiconductor supply was so tight that demand surged, global semiconductor materials sales also recorded an all-time high. South Korea ranked third in the world with $10.572 billion last year, following Taiwan and China.

On the 18th, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) announced that global semiconductor materials market sales last year increased by 15.9% to $64.273 billion. This surpassed the previous record of $55.479 billion set in 2020.

The world's largest consumer of semiconductor materials is Taiwan. Taiwan's semiconductor materials sales grew 15.7% last year to $14.711 billion. With world-class semiconductor foundries and advanced packaging infrastructure, Taiwan has held the number one position globally for 12 consecutive years. China ranked second with $11.929 billion. China's annual semiconductor materials sales growth rate was 21.9%, the fastest in the world, indicating how rapidly its semiconductor industry is expanding.

South Korea took third place. For the first time last year, South Korea's semiconductor materials sales exceeded $10 billion. It recorded a growth rate of 15.9%, totaling $10.572 billion. Following were Japan with $8.811 billion, other regions (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, etc.) with $7.810 billion, North America with $6.036 billion, and Europe with $4.414 billion. North America was the only region showing a single-digit growth rate in semiconductor materials sales at 8.5% compared to other regions.

By material type, sales of wafer materials, a core semiconductor material, increased by 15.5% to $40.4 billion, while packaging materials rose 16.5% to $23.9 billion.

SEMI CEO Ajit Manocha explained, "The global semiconductor materials market recorded an unusually high growth rate last year due to the rapid digital transformation driving a surge in semiconductor demand and the industry's expanded production capacity."

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