Continued strong demand for semiconductors is fuelling a continued increase in capital expenditure plans in 2010. According to Gartner, manufacturing capacity has increased from 5% to 6%, year-over-year in the second quarter, compared to its previous figures for the first quarter. Key IC manufacturers spending the most during the last three months include Globalfoundries, Samsung, Toshiba and, most recently, TSMC. Samsung tops the CapEx spenders for 2010, followed by Intel and TSMC, after several major revisions to its plans for 2010.
According to Gartner, the biggest spender since 2005 has been Samsung, totalling nearly US$41 billion, nearly US$10 billion more than the former CapEx leader, Intel Corp.
However, Gartner projects that the next cyclical decline will begin in 2013, driven by an oversupply in non-other than the memory market.