July 8, 2025 /SemiMedia/ — Japan’s chip equipment industry is expected to hit record-breaking sales in fiscal 2026, according to the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), amid rising investments in advanced nodes and AI-related components.

SEAJ now projects Japan’s semiconductor equipment sales will reach ¥5.35 trillion (approximately $36.9 billion) from April 2026 to March 2027, up from the previous estimate of ¥5.12 trillion (around $35.3 billion). This revision reflects growing 2nm foundry investments outside Taiwan region, expectations of Japan entering 2nm mass production, and rising capital spending on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI servers and NAND Flash with over 300 layers. The new forecast marks a 10.0% year-on-year increase and the first time the annual figure exceeds ¥5 trillion (about $34.5 billion).

Monthly sales data also highlight strong momentum. In May 2025, Japanese chip tool sales totaled ¥446.3 billion (approximately $3.08 billion), up 11.3% from a year earlier, marking 17 consecutive months of growth and 14 straight months with double-digit gains. It was also the 19th consecutive month above ¥300 billion (around $2.07 billion) and the seventh month exceeding ¥400 billion (about $2.76 billion), just below the all-time high of ¥447.0 billion (approximately $3.08 billion) set in April 2025.

For the January–May 2025 period, cumulative sales rose 20.5% year-on-year to ¥2.15 trillion (around $14.83 billion), surpassing the previous record of ¥1.79 trillion (about $12.34 billion) set in 2024. SEAJ expects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9% for Japan’s chip equipment market between 2025 and 2027. By revenue, Japan holds a 30% global market share, second only to the United States.