By Li Panpan

(JW Insights) Aug 23 -- China's semiconductor investment in the first six months of this year was about RMB855.3 billion ($118.85 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 22.7%. The global semiconductor industry is still in the destocking stage, and the industrial recovery is weaker than expected, according to statistics released by CINNO Research on August 22.

In the first half of the year, China's semiconductor investment mainly flowed to wafer manufacturing, with an amount of about RMB373.1 billion ($51.84 billion), accounting for about 43.6% of the total.

Other breakdowns are: investment in semiconductor materials RMB171.5 billion ($23.83 billion), accounting for about 20.1% of the total during the time;

Chip design, RMB161.6 billion ($22.46 billion), 18.9%;

Packaging and testing RMB98 billion ($13.62 billion), 11.5%;

Equipment RMB16.9 billion ($2.35 billion) and 1.9% .

Silicon wafers, third-generation semiconductor materials, and electronic chemicals are the three major investment areas for semiconductor materials in China in the first six months of 2023. Silicon wafers received about RMB56.6 billion ($7.86 billion), accounting for about 32.9%.

Investment in third-generation semiconductor materials reached RMB26.7 billion ($3.71 billion) for about 15.6% of the total investment during the first half of 2023; Electronic chemicals RMB16.8 billion ($2.33 billion) for 9.7%.

CINNO Research expects that by the end of 2023, the downstream communications market represented by smartphones, and the computer market represented by PCs, will have inventory adjustments coming to an end. With the incremental demand for automotive electronics, data centers, and other applications, the semiconductor industry is expected to grow rapidly in 2024. The gradual recovery in the first half of 2024 will drive the recovery of semiconductor investment.