Reports indicate that Samsung Electronics plans to construct a new DRAM fabrication facility in its Giheung campus in South Korea, with a planned monthly capacity of approximately 100,000 wafers. The total investment for the project is expected to reach tens of trillions of Korean won, with construction potentially commencing as early as the third quarter of 2026. The market widely interprets this move as Samsung's adjustment to its production capacity layout in response to the persistently rising demand for memory chips driven by the surge in AI infrastructure investment.
Concurrently, the recent operational data and capacity plans disclosed by the global lithography equipment leader, ASML Holding NV (ASML), provide another perspective on the semiconductor equipment sector's vitality. For the second quarter of 2026, ASML reported net sales of approximately 9.3 billion euros, a gross margin of 54.0%, and a net profit of about 2.9 billion euros. The company also raised its full-year 2026 net sales guidance to a range of 43 to 45 billion euros. ASML executives stated that AI-related investments are driving demand for advanced logic and memory chips. The company plans to increase production capacity for low-NA EUV and immersion DUV systems by approximately 30% in 2027 compared to its 2026 baseline plan.
From an industry standpoint, the latest forecast from SEMI suggests that global semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales could grow by 23.2% year-over-year to $165.9 billion in 2026. Within this, wafer fab equipment sales are projected to increase by 23.1% to $143.9 billion, while test equipment sales are expected to rise by 31% to $15.3 billion. SEMI anticipates that global semiconductor equipment sales could reach $229.5 billion by 2028, driven by AI-fueled demand for advanced logic, advanced memory, testing, and packaging, which is prompting chipmakers to boost equipment investments.
The semiconductor sector has experienced a phase of recent adjustment, with market focus gradually returning to industry fundamentals. The growth in AI demand, improvements in the memory cycle, and the trend of domestic substitution remain unchanged. As a core beneficiary segment of semiconductor capital expenditure, the equipment and materials sector continues to draw attention for its long-term growth narrative. Data from Wind and the exchanges show that the Huatai-PineBridge Sci-Tech Innovation Semiconductor Equipment ETF (588710) has attracted cumulative net inflows of 6.418 billion yuan over the past month. Its latest fund size and share count stand at 7.858 billion yuan and 2.430 billion shares, respectively.
The Huatai-PineBridge Sci-Tech Innovation Semiconductor Equipment ETF (588710) tracks the Sci-Tech Innovation Semiconductor Materials & Equipment Index. This index offers a high-purity focus on the upstream "materials + equipment" segment of the semiconductor industry, with a combined sector weighting as high as 87%. It demonstrates high sensitivity to trends such as wafer fab capital expenditure, memory capacity expansion, and the domestic substitution process. Additionally, the index has over a 70% weighting in memory chip-related concepts and a 58% weighting in "advanced packaging" concepts. Off-exchange investors may consider the Huatai-PineBridge SSE STAR Market Semiconductor Materials & Equipment Theme ETF Feeder Fund (Class A 024974 / Class C 024975).
The index's composition, which selects stocks exclusively from the STAR Market, may contribute to its strong historical performance elasticity, which has surpassed that of some mainstream peer indices. Over the past year, the index has delivered a cumulative return of 211%, outperforming other major semiconductor theme indices such as the Semiconductor Materials & Equipment Theme Index (189%), the CSI All Share Semiconductor Index (129%), the STAR Market Chip Index (162%), and the SZSE Chip Index (120%) over the same period.
Important Considerations for Investors
The semiconductor equipment and materials sector is subject to frequent industry catalysts, yet investors should also be mindful of risks associated with high valuations and trading volatility. The valuation of the semiconductor equipment segment is already at historically elevated levels, and trading is relatively concentrated. Profit-taking and shifts in market sentiment could trigger significant price swings. Investors are advised to make rational judgments and invest cautiously based on their individual risk tolerance.
As one of China's pioneering ETF managers with over 19 years of experience in index investment, Huatai-PineBridge Funds has developed transparent, convenient, and low-cost index investment tools for investors, including products like the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF (510300) and the Huatai-PineBridge A500 ETF (563360). As of the end of March 2026, the company's ETFs had generated cumulative profits exceeding 223.4 billion yuan for investors over the preceding two years, making it one of only three public fund management companies in the A-share market to achieve cumulative profits over 200 billion yuan during that period.
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