● International Development
1. Global semiconductor sales increased by 18.8% year-on-year in the first quarter
On May 6th, TSMC Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced that global semiconductor sales for the first quarter of 2025 were $167.7 billion, an increase of 18.8% from the first quarter of 2024 but a decrease of 2.8% from the fourth quarter of 2024. The global sales in March 2025 were $55.9 billion, an increase of 1.8% from $54.9 billion in February 2025. Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization, representing a three-month moving average. SIA represents 99% of the revenue of the US semiconductor industry and nearly two-thirds of non US chip companies.
From a regional perspective, sales in March this year increased year-on-year in the Americas (45.3%), Asia Pacific/All Other Regions (15.4%), China (7.6%), and Japan (5.8%), but decreased in Europe (-2.0%). The sales in March increased compared to the previous month in Europe (5.7%), Asia Pacific/All Other Regions (3.6%), and China (2.4%), but decreased in the Americas (-0.4%) and Japan (0.4%).
According to the previous forecast of the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Organization, the global semiconductor market size will reach 697.1 billion US dollars by 2025, an increase of 11% compared to the expected growth in 2024. This prediction reflects the complexity and diversity of the current semiconductor industry, especially in the context of the launch of generative artificial intelligence (AI) services, slowing sales of traditional consumer electronics products, and rapid growth in emerging technology fields.
2. By 2025, the revenue of the photolithography materials industry will reach 5.06 billion US dollars
According to the latest forecast from research firm TECHCET, driven by the recovery of the semiconductor market, revenue from photolithography materials is expected to grow by 7% in 2025, reaching $5.06 billion. It is reported that this growth is mainly driven by a significant increase in demand for advanced photoresist, especially EUV photoresist, which is expected to grow by 30% year-on-year. With the increase in chip production, especially the production of advanced node devices in the fields of logic chips and DRAM chips, auxiliary materials and expansion materials will also show a strong growth trend.
TECHCET data shows that in 2024, revenue from photolithography materials increased moderately by 1.6%, reaching $4.74 billion. Among them, photoresist increased by 1%, with EUV photoresist showing the most outstanding performance, increasing by 20% year-on-year. Both auxiliary materials and expansion materials performed well, with an increase of 2% each. The current market is benefiting from the steady growth in demand for photoresist brought about by the development of advanced node processes, especially EUV photoresist. At the same time, the increasing application of traditional photoresists such as KrF and ArF in 3D NAND has also promoted positive market performance.
According to TECHCET's' Key Materials for Photolithography 2025 Report ', it is expected that the photolithography materials market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6% by 2029. The future market development will be affected by the localization trend of the supply chain. The United States, South Korea, Taiwan, China and the mainland will build new facilities. These facilities will be dedicated to developing innovative technologies such as dry photoresist deposition and nanoimprint lithography to further enhance the performance of lithography materials and reduce costs.
3. Japanese chip equipment sales hit a historic high
The latest data from the Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) shows that the sales of chip equipment in Japan reached 447.038 billion yen in April. This figure has increased by 14.9% compared to the same period last year, achieving the 16th consecutive month of growth, and the growth rate has remained in double digits for 13 consecutive months.
It is worth noting that the sales in April not only exceeded 300 billion yen for the 18th consecutive month, but also surpassed the 443.364 billion yen in December 2024, setting a new monthly historical high since statistics began in 1986, demonstrating the strong upward momentum of the Japanese chip equipment industry.
From the beginning of the year to April, the cumulative sales of Japanese chip equipment reached 1708.294 billion yen, a 23% increase compared to the same period last year. This achievement far exceeds the record of 1387.079 billion yen in the same period of 2024, setting a new record for the same period in previous years.
As early as January 16th, SEAJ stated in its forecast report that due to the increasing demand for AI semiconductors and the expansion of advanced investment, it is expected that Japan's chip equipment sales will continue to grow in 2025, with an annual increase of 5.0% to 466 million yen, reaching a new high. The estimated annual growth rate for 2026 is 10.0% to 512 million yen, and the annual sales revenue will break through the 5 trillion yen mark for the first time.
4. The UK deploys the world's second 200kV electron beam lithography equipment
Recently, the University of Southampton in the UK announced the successful establishment of the first cutting-edge electron beam lithography (EBL) center outside of Japan with a resolution of less than 5 nanometers, capable of manufacturing next-generation semiconductor chips. This is also the second and first electron beam lithography center of its kind in the world and Europe.
It is reported that the electron beam lithography center adopts JEOL's accelerated voltage direct writing electron beam lithography (EBL) system from Japan, which is also the world's second 200kV system (JEOL JBX-8100 G3) (the first in Japan). It can achieve resolution processing of fine structures below 5 nanometers on 200mm wafers. This can be achieved in photoresists as thick as 10 microns, with almost vertical sidewalls, which can be used to develop new structures in research chips in the fields of electronics and photonics. JEOL's second-generation EBL equipment, the 100kV JEOL JBX-A9, is planned to support larger quantities of 300mm wafers.
At present, JEOL's accelerated voltage direct writing electron beam lithography system (JEOL JBX-8100 G3) has been installed in a specially constructed 820 square meter cleanroom in the Mountbatten Complex of the University of Southampton.
The UK is home to some of the most exciting semiconductor research in the world, and Southampton's new electron beam facility greatly enhances our national capabilities. By investing in infrastructure and talent, we provide the support researchers and innovators need to develop next-generation chips in the UK, "said Lord Patrick Vallance, UK Science Minister
We are honored to be the first institution outside of Japan to have this new generation 200 kV electron beam lithography system. The University of Southampton has over 30 years of experience in the field of electron beam lithography, "said Professor Martin Charlton from the University of Southampton. This will help drive the development of quantum computing, silicon photonics, and next-generation electronic systems. This device complements our existing suite of microfabrication equipment, enabling us to develop and produce various integrated nanoscale devices for electronics, photonics, and bio nanotechnology
5. TSMC's revenue in April surged 48.1% year-on-year, setting a new historical high in a single month
On May 9th, TSMC, a leading semiconductor foundry company, announced its revenue for April 2025, with a consolidated revenue of NT $349.567 billion (approximately RMB 83.86 billion), a year-on-year increase of 48.1% and a month on month increase of 22.2%, setting a new record for a single month in history. The cumulative revenue for the first four months of 2025 is approximately NT $1188.821 billion, a year-on-year increase of 43.5%. According to the guidance provided at TSMC's first quarter briefing, it is expected that the consolidated revenue for the second quarter, calculated in US dollars, will be between 28.4 billion and 29.2 billion US dollars, an increase of 11.2% to 14.5% compared to the first quarter. Based on the exchange rate of 1 US dollar to 32.5 New Taiwan dollars, the estimated revenue is approximately 923 billion to 949 billion New Taiwan dollars, an increase of 10% to 13% compared to the first quarter and 37% to 41% compared to the same period in 2024. The gross profit margin is 57% to 59%, and the operating profit margin is 47% to 49%.
6. Power semiconductor manufacturer Wolfspeed will file for bankruptcy
After the stock market closed on May 20th, according to media reports, American chip manufacturer Wolfspeed is preparing to apply for bankruptcy protection within a few weeks as the company struggles to cope with its debt crisis. After rejecting multiple out of court debt restructuring proposals from creditors, the company plans to apply for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which will receive support from the majority of its creditors. As a silicon carbide chip manufacturer, Wolfspeed expressed concerns about its ability to sustain operations earlier this month and predicted that its annual revenue would be lower than expected. The company expects its revenue to reach $850 million in 2026, but this figure is far below analysts' expectations of $960 million. Prior to this, at the end of March, the funding for the Wolfspeed chip bill was pending and the refinancing of convertible bonds was hindered, causing a sharp drop of 50%. After the bankruptcy restructuring news on Tuesday, Wolfspeed plummeted 60% in the US stock market. In addition, in 2023, Renesas Electronics signed a 10-year SiC wafer supply agreement with Wolfspeed and prepaid $2 billion. If Wolfspeed ultimately files for bankruptcy, Renesas Electronics may face significant impairment losses, further exacerbating its strategic challenges.
7. TSMC will raise prices for advanced process wafers: 2nm process wafers will increase by 10%
TSMC recently announced that it will adjust the prices of its advanced process wafers. According to insiders, this price adjustment is mainly affected by the rising cost of overseas factory construction and capital expenditure plans. Specifically, TSMC's 2nm process wafer prices will increase by 10% compared to before. If calculated based on the estimated $30000 for 300mm wafers last year, the new pricing will reach around $33000. In addition, TSMC will also adjust the price of its 4-nanometer manufacturing nodes, with an expected increase of 10% to 30%, making it the largest price adjustment in TSMC's advanced process field in recent years.
There are two main reasons for TSMC's price increase this time. Firstly, the cost of building wafer fabs in overseas regions such as the United States has increased, which directly leads to an increase in production costs. Secondly, TSMC needs to recoup its capital expenditure plan of up to $38 billion to $42 billion this year, which is also an important consideration for price increases.
8. Nvidia's revenue jumps to the top of global chip companies in 2024, while Infineon and STMicroelectronics fall out of the top ten
According to a report by market research firm Omdia, the global chip market size reached $683 billion in 2024, an increase of 25% compared to 2023. This growth is mainly due to the strong demand for AI related chips, especially the significant increase in high bandwidth memory (HBM), which compensates for the decline in chip sales in the automotive, consumer, and industrial markets. Companies related to AI and memory have risen in ranking, while those that mainly sell analog and power chips and are more susceptible to market contraction have fallen in ranking. Omdia analyst Cliff Leimbach pointed out that the industrial semiconductor market experienced above average growth in 2021 and 2022, but experienced a double-digit decline in 2024. In addition, the automotive market also experienced a contraction in 2024, while the market size almost doubled between 2020 and 2023.
● Domestic dynamics
1. The China Europe Semiconductor Upstream and Downstream Enterprise Symposium was held in Beijing
According to the website of the Ministry of Commerce, on May 27th, the China Europe Semiconductor Upstream and Downstream Enterprise Symposium was held in Beijing. Representatives from relevant departments of the Ministry of Commerce, the China Semiconductor Industry Association, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, and over 40 upstream and downstream semiconductor companies from China and Europe attended the conference. The meeting will exchange ideas on deepening economic and trade cooperation in the semiconductor field between China and Europe.
The meeting emphasized that both China and Europe occupy important positions in the global semiconductor supply chain, and strengthening cooperation is in the interests of both sides. The current international situation is complex and severe, with an increasing number of unstable and uncertain factors. China will continue to expand high-level opening up to the outside world, provide a fair, stable, transparent, and predictable policy environment for enterprises, support Chinese and European semiconductor companies to fully leverage their complementary advantages, deepen economic and trade cooperation in accordance with laws and regulations, resolutely oppose unilateralism and bullying, and strive to maintain the security and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain.
The attending representatives unanimously agreed that the security and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain are currently facing severe challenges. This symposium provides a good platform for upstream and downstream semiconductor enterprises in China and Europe to enhance understanding, boost trade confidence, and deepen exchanges and cooperation. Strengthening exchanges and cooperation in the semiconductor field between China and Europe will help inject new impetus into the world economic recovery and growth.
2. SEMI: China's semiconductor equipment expenditure reached 49.55 billion US dollars in 2024
According to SEMI statistics, China's expenditure on semiconductor equipment reached 49.55 billion US dollars in 2024, an increase of 35% compared to the same period last year, making it the world's largest semiconductor equipment spending country. SEMI pointed out that China has consolidated its position as the world's largest semiconductor equipment market through policy support and industrial investment. Overall, the total global semiconductor equipment expenditure in 2024 is $117.1 billion.
South Korea ranked second with a spending of 20.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 3% compared to last year, mainly due to strong demand for HBM produced by Samsung and SK Hynix. Taiwan, China ranked third with US $16.6 billion in expenditure, down 16% from last year, mainly due to the slowing demand for new equipment. Chinese Mainland, South Korea and Taiwan, China together account for 74% of the global semiconductor equipment market. North America is the fourth largest semiconductor equipment spending region, with an annual increase of 14%, reaching $13.7 billion, mainly due to investment in advanced processes and the improvement of domestic production capacity.
3. From January to April, the profit of domestic semiconductor device specialized equipment manufacturing increased by 105.1%
The latest data shows that the profits of industrial enterprises above designated size in China increased by 3.0% year-on-year in April, and the cumulative year-on-year growth rate of industrial enterprise profits has continued to improve since the beginning of this year.
The National Bureau of Statistics stated that industrial production achieved rapid growth in April, which accelerated the profit growth of industrial enterprises above designated size, especially in the new energy industries represented by equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing, where profits grew rapidly. The profits of industrial enterprises above designated size have steadily recovered from January to April, but it should also be noted that there are still many international environmental variables, such as insufficient demand and price decline, which still exist as constraints. The foundation for the steady recovery of industrial enterprise benefits still needs to be further consolidated.
Yu Weining, a statistician from the Industrial Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated that from January to April, the profits of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 1.4%, an acceleration of 0.6 percentage points compared to January to March, continuing the trend of recovery and improvement. In April, the profits of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 3.0% year-on-year, accelerating by 0.4 percentage points compared to March. The leading role of equipment manufacturing industry is prominent. With the deepening of industrial optimization and upgrading, the efficiency of equipment manufacturing industry continues to improve. From January to April, the profit of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 11.2% year-on-year, accelerating by 4.8 percentage points compared to January to March; Pulling the profit growth of all industrial enterprises above designated size by 3.6 percentage points, the driving effect increased by 1.6 percentage points compared to January to March, and the leading role in the profit growth of industrial enterprises above designated size is prominent.
From an industry perspective, among the 8 industries in the equipment manufacturing industry, 7 industries achieved double-digit growth in profits, and 6 industries accelerated their growth compared to January to March. Among them, the profits of industries such as instruments and meters, electrical machinery, general equipment, and electronics increased by 22.0%, 15.4%, 11.7%, and 11.6%, respectively, accelerating by 6.7%, 7.9%, 2.2%, and 8.4 percentage points compared to January to March.
The profit growth of high-tech manufacturing industry is accelerating. From January to April, the profit of high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 9.0% year-on-year, accelerating by 5.5 percentage points compared to January to March, and the growth rate was 7.6 percentage points higher than the average level of all industries above designated size. From an industry perspective, with the continuous promotion of high-end manufacturing, the profits of industries such as biopharmaceutical product manufacturing and aircraft manufacturing increased by 24.3% and 27.0% year-on-year, respectively; The "Artificial Intelligence+" initiative has been deeply promoted, and the profits of industries such as semiconductor device specialized equipment manufacturing, electronic circuit manufacturing, and integrated circuit manufacturing have increased by 105.1%, 43.1%, and 42.2% respectively; Intelligent products are helping with the digital transformation, and related industries such as intelligent vehicle equipment manufacturing, intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing, and wearable intelligent device manufacturing have seen profit growth of 177.4%, 167.9%, and 80.9%, respectively.
4. Beijing releases key points for promoting the development of private economy, supporting enterprises to purchase domestic GPU chips and build intelligent computing centers
In early May, the "Key Points for Promoting Healthy and High Quality Development of the Private Economy in Beijing by 2025" were officially released. This policy aims to promote the healthy and high-quality development of the private economy in Beijing. According to this work point, Beijing will support private enterprises in building intelligent computing centers, and provide support to enterprises that purchase independently controllable GPU chips to provide intelligent computing services according to a certain proportion of investment. In addition, Beijing will also focus on supporting private enterprises to participate in the construction of green innovation platforms.
5. Beijing: Launching the application for the innovative development project of "Artificial Intelligence+New Materials" to promote breakthroughs in semiconductor material technology
On May 30th, in order to thoroughly implement the work deployment of the Central Economic Work Conference's "Carry out the 'Artificial Intelligence+' Action", actively seize the major strategic opportunity of the innovation of the 'Artificial Intelligence+New Materials' paradigm, create an internationally leading innovation source and application highland for new materials, accelerate the deep integration of artificial intelligence and new materials, and implement the' Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovation and Development of 'Artificial Intelligence+New Materials' in Beijing (2025-2027) (Draft for Comments)', the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Zhongguancun Management Committee began to solicit reserve projects for the innovation and development of 'Artificial Intelligence+New Materials' in 2025.
The project aims to build a high-level professional incubator, deeply explore and serve the transformation and landing of achievements, jointly promote key core technology research and development, intelligent laboratory construction, new business cultivation, and innovative ecological prompts, and create a space for "artificial intelligence+new materials" integrated innovation industry. Industry insiders point out that this will provide strong support for technological breakthroughs and industrialization in the field of semiconductor materials.
6. In the first quarter, the added value of China's electronic information manufacturing industry above designated size increased by 11.5% year-on-year
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the added value of China's electronic information manufacturing industry above designated size increased by 11.5% year-on-year in the first quarter, further accelerating from January to February, with growth rates 5 and 1.8 percentage points higher than those of the industrial and high-tech manufacturing industries during the same period, respectively. In March, the added value of electronic information manufacturing industry above designated size increased by 13.1% year-on-year. Among the main products, the output of microcomputer equipment was 79.56 million units, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%; The production of integrated circuits reached 109.5 billion blocks, a year-on-year increase of 6.0%.
In terms of exports, the electronic information manufacturing industry above designated size achieved a year-on-year increase of 7.1% in export delivery value in the first quarter, an increase of 1.2 percentage points compared to January and February. In March, the electronic information manufacturing industry above designated size achieved a year-on-year increase of 8.6% in export delivery value. According to customs statistics, in the first quarter, China exported 33.35 million laptops, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%; 23.56 million televisions were exported, a year-on-year increase of 4.1%; 76.1 billion integrated circuits were exported, a year-on-year increase of 22%.
Fixed assets investment in electronic information manufacturing industry increased by 10.5% year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points higher than that from January to February, 1.5 percentage points lower than that of industrial investment in the same period, and 4 percentage points higher than that of high-tech industry in the same period.