19 new chip factories will start in 2021, ten more will follow by the end of 2022; The construction boom in the semiconductor industry should cover the steadily increasing demand for computer chips of all kinds, predict the projections of the industry association SEMI.
Of the total of 29 factories by the end of 2022 will be canceled eight each on China and Taiwan. Six new plants are also being built in the USA, and only three in Europe and the Middle East. Japan and South Korea bring up the rear with two new buildings each.
However, SEMI explains that this number could increase. Many companies are currently planning on this matter at fairly short notice, as many countries and international communities have set up funding programs to see their own location better positioned for the future. SEMI itself names eight projects up to the end of next year, which currently sound unlikely, but could appear in the planning books in the short term. And quite a few large manufacturers, including Intel, want to decide on further factories this year, Germany is hoping for this.
The projected cost of US $ 140 billion to equip all 29 plants already reveals that there will be many smaller fabs among them. Because the report counts 22 factories in the 300 mm wafer class, seven more are being built for 200, 150 or even 100 mm wafers. In the end, the result is an equivalent of 2.6 million additional 200 mm wafers per month, which translates to a little more than 1.15 million additional units when converted to large 300 mm wafers. Now this number seems comparatively small, because that is almost the monthly production of TSMC.
What is interesting about the breakdown is that of the 29 factories only four for DRAM and Flash Memory of all kinds should be thought of. The four big companies Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron as well as Kioxia/Toshiba are of course diligently building up and expanding capacity, because every low is followed by a boom.
Back end and packaging not listed
Only with front-end production lines If it is also not done, further back-end locations are needed, and packaging is also becoming more and more important. The number of factories that take care of all these matters from front end to packaging should therefore be significantly higher in the end.