According to the latest World Fab Forecast report from SEMI, a semiconductor industry group, manufacturers of chips and countries are significantly increasing spending on equipment for fabs, reaching $109 billion in 2022. According to a rather neat graph made by SEMI, this is almost a 2x increase compared to the $55 billion spent in 2019 and the trend should continue as the forecast for 2023 is also set at $109B.

TSMC, Samsung, and Globalfoundries are some of the biggest chip manufacturers, and hold about 53 percent of fab equipment manufacturing in 2022 and 2023, while memory chip manufacturers, like Micron and SK Hynix, hold about 33-34 percent.

When it comes to countries, Taiwan is holding the crown with 48 percent, which is not a big surprise considering that TSMC is on the list. The investments in Taiwan are expected to go up by 52 percent, up to $34 billion. South Korea holds second place, with Samsung and SK Hynix, with an increase of around 7 percent, up to $25.5 billion.

China's spending is declining by 14 percent, down to $17 billion, while Europe/Middle East spending is increasing by 176 percent, up to $9.3 billion, showing that Europe is way behind big players. The US is going to increase its spending by 19 percent, up to $8.2 billion.

"The global semiconductor equipment industry remains on track to cross the $100 billion threshold for the first time as shown in our latest update of the World Fab Forecast," said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. "This historic milestone puts an exclamation point on the current run of unprecedented industry growth."