Semiconductor equipment billings reached $40.53B in the second quarter, a record for a second consecutive period, SEMI reported on September 3. The total is up 23 percent from a year earlier and about 11 percent from the first quarter, according to the association’s Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics report, compiled with Japan’s SEAJ.
China remained the largest buying region with quarterly sales above $11.9B. Taiwan followed at $10.89B on foundry capacity expansion, and South Korea ranked third at $9.08B, up 54 percent from $5.91B a year earlier as its memory makers pour money into HBM lines. North America took fourth place, and Europe also grew.
SEMI chief executive Ajit Manocha tied the run to AI infrastructure. Back-to-back record quarters show sustained investment in advanced manufacturing capacity to support rising chip demand, he said, with spending concentrated in the finer geometries and high-bandwidth memory that AI accelerators require.
The figures give equipment vendors their strongest order backdrop in years and help explain why ASML, Applied Materials and Lam Research all reported bulging backlogs this year. With AI data center buildouts still climbing and new fabs under construction from Ohio to Hiroshima, tool suppliers look set to extend the streak into the second half.
