Gartner Forecasts
A forecast was made that although a super boom in the semiconductor market led to the double-digit growth of the world semiconductor industry’s investment in facilities, the investment volume will go downhill beginning next year.
According to industry sources on August 8, global market research firm Gartner estimated in a recent market report that this year's total investment in semiconductor facilities will total US$ 77.79 billion, a 10.2 percent increase over last year.
In the second quarter of last year, Gartner predicted that the growth rate would reach 1.4% this year. However, Gartner significantly elevated the prediction as demand for memory semiconductors such as NAND flashes increased and prices rise recently, triggering a steady increase in investment in facilities.
By sector, wafer fab investment was $ 43.663 billion, an increase of 17.9% over last year, while other investments are expected to increase 1.8% to $ 34.13 billion.
However, Gartner expects semiconductor facility investment to turn for a fall year on year starting next year. In 2019, semiconductor facility investment will fall 7.3 percent year-on-year to US$ 71,810.4 million, after sliding 0.5 percent to US$ 77,443.5 million next year.
Last month Gartner predicted that the long-term boom in the semiconductor market, led by the memory sector, is likely to come to an end in 2019. So this time, the market research firm warned that a downturn can come even faster.