Following strong growth of 18 percent in 2014, the equipment market is poised to continue to expand for the next two years. Key drivers for equipment spending are investments by memory and foundry fabs. Front-end wafer processing equipment is forecast to grow 10 percent in 2015 to $32.1 billion, up from $29.3 billion in 2014. Test equipment, assembly and packaging equipment are forecast to contract this year, falling to $3.5 billion (-3 percent) and $2.8 billion (-9 percent), respectively.

"Memory and foundry device manufacturers are continuing to invest in leading-edge process technologies to enable mobility and interconnectivity,” said Terry Tsao, President of SEMI Taiwan. “We expect capital spending to post growth throughout the remainder of 2015 and into 2016.”

Taiwan is forecast to continue as the world’s largest spender with $10.9 billion estimated for 2015 and $10.0 billion for 2016. In 2015, South Korea is second at $8.6 billion, followed by North America at $6.5 billion. For 2016, these three regions are expected to maintain their relative rankings.

In 2015, year-over-year increases are expected to be largest for South Korea (25 percent), Taiwan (16 percent), Europe (14 percent), and Japan (13 percent). Projected year-over-year percentage increases for 2016 are largest for Europe (26 percent increase), China (19 percent), South Korea (8 percent), and Rest of World (7 percent).