SEMI released its Year-End Total Equipment Forecast on the 11th, in which South Korea reelected the world's largest equipment market, mainland China ranks second, Taiwan region ranks third. According to SEMI's forecast, only Taiwan, Japan and North America will grow next year.

According to the report, the global sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment is expected to increase by 9.2% to US$62.1 billion in 2018, up from the record high of US$56.6 billion set last year. The equipment market is expected to decline slightly by 4% in 2019, but will grow by 20.7% in 2020, reaching a record high of $71.9 billion.

In 2018, South Korea has become the world's largest equipment market for the second consecutive year, but the amount has declined slightly, from $17.9 billion in 2017 to $17.1 billion; Taiwan region has fallen from $11.4 billion to $10.1 billion; North America has fell from $5.5 billion to $5.2 billion. In terms of growth rate, mainland China ranked first with a growth rate of 55.7%, followed by Japan with 32.5%, other regions (mainly Southeast Asia) with 23.7% and Europe with 14.2%.

Looking forward to 2019, SEMI predicts that South Korea, mainland China and Taiwan region will maintain their top three market positions and their rankings will remain unchanged.