Global spending on 300mm front-end fab equipment is projected to reach $149 billion in 2026, up 31% from 2025, according to SEMI’s latest 300mm Fab Outlook. Investment is forecast to continue growing at double-digit rates through 2029, reaching $227 billion, according to Clark Tseng, Director of Industry Research and Statistics at SEMI, during his presentation at the SEMICON West 2026 Market Symposium event in San Francisco, California. Tseng said the expansion is also reflected in the pipeline of new manufacturing facilities. Excluding pure R&D fabs, SEMI expects construction to begin on 20 new 300mm fabs or production lines worldwide in 2026, followed by another 18 in 2027. The United States is projected to account for three starts in 2026 and four in 2027. Tseng said AI investment is sustaining wafer demand growth despite slower macro investment and contracting consumer-device shipments. AI infrastructure, compute, and memory are lifting memory demand even as PC and smartphone shipments contract, he noted. “Semiconductor demand is increasingly translating into physical manufacturing expansion across the global industry,” said Ajit Manocha, SEMI President and CEO, in a statement. “The latest outlook points to both stronger equipment investment and a substantial pipeline of fabs moving toward operation. This expansion will provide the manufacturing foundation needed to support AI, high-performance computing and a broad range of next-generation semiconductor applications.” SEMI expects global construction spending for 300mm fabs to rise by 23% to $47.5 billion in 2026, then increase by 33% to $63.3 billion in 2027. Spending is projected to reach $68.4 billion in 2028, reflecting capacity additions across leading-edge logic, memory and other 300mm semiconductor technologies. In the Americas, equipment spending is expected to more than double from $18.1 billion in 2026 to $40.6 billion in 2029, as the region expands its semiconductor manufacturing base. SEMI also projects that 13 new 300mm fabs or production lines will begin operations or ship first silicon in 2026. The number is expected to rise to 23 in 2027. SEMICON West 2026 is being held this week at the Moscone Center. The post SEMICON West 2026: SEMI Forecasts 300mm Fab Equipment Spending to Reach $227B by 2029 appeared first on EE Times Asia .