Semiconductor Equipment
This highly specialized industry manufactures the complex lithography, etching, and wafer-processing machinery required to fabricate microchips at the atomic scale.
Why it exists
This industry builds the machines that manufacture semiconductors.
Why it’s necessary
No advanced chips can be produced without lithography, etching, deposition, and inspection systems.
Key components
Lithography systems
Etch & deposition tools
Metrology & inspection
Cleanroom systems
How to evaluate businesses
Foundry capex cycles, technology node leadership, backlog strength, and customer concentration dominate performance. Entry barriers are extreme; pricing power is enormous for category leaders.
How the industry could be improved
Shorter tool qualification cycles, AI-assisted defect detection, modular fab design, and energy-efficient tool architectures.