Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market - Strategic Insights and Forecasts (2026-2031)

Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market is expected to grow at a 4.28% CAGR, achieving USD 364.336 million in 2031 from USD 283.370 million in 2025.

Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Highlights:

The semiconductor dry strip equipment market has been growing steadily as semiconductor manufacturing undergoes rapid changes like advanced process nodes, greater complexity of devices, and increased global fabrication capacity. Dry strip equipment relies on plasma-based and chemical vapor methods to remove photoresist and post-etch residues. It is a crucial tool in the wafer fabrication process as it offers the benefits of high precision, low defect generation, and being well-suited to sensitive materials. Investments in new fabs and expansions of existing ones, which are additionally supported by government semiconductor incentive programs and supply chain localization efforts, are a direct source of increased equipment demand. At the same time, stricter environmental and safety regulations are giving fabs the push to replace classical wet stripping methods with cleaner and more controllable dry strip technologies.

Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Overview

The semiconductor dry strip equipment market is experiencing consistent growth. This expansion is mainly due to advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes increasingly adopting plasma-based and dry processing technologies for photoresist removal and post-etch cleaning. Dry strip equipment is being heavily used in front-end wafer fabrication because it can provide high precision, minimal damage to materials, and excellent contamination control, thus making it better than the traditional wet stripping methods. The semiconductor dry strip equipment market is shaped by various regulatory and compliance frameworks oriented to the environment, worker safety, and process standardization. The legislation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Air Act, EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) are examples that regulate emissions, chemical usage, and material safety in semiconductor fabs. Moreover, the standards of SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International), such as SEMI S2 (Environmental, Health, and Safety Guidelines), set the safety and operational requirements for dry strip equipment. Additionally, compliance with ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 has become increasingly obligatory, thus pushing equipment manufacturers to find energy-saving, low-emission, and environmentally normalized dry strip devices. The demand for smaller node sizes, more complex device architectures such as FinFETs and gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, and multi-patterning processes has raised the necessity for highly effective photoresist stripping solutions. The growth of foundry and logic manufacturing, together with increased investments in memory production, including DRAM and 3D NAND, are the major factors driving the demand for advanced dry strip systems that can deal with high aspect ratio features. The semiconductor industry is anticipated to launch 18 new fab construction projects in 2025, according to SEMI's quarterly World Fab Forecast report. The Americas and Japan lead the list of regions with four projects each. The China and Europe & Middle East regions share the third with three projects each. Taiwan plans two projects, whereas Korea and Southeast Asia will have one project each for 2025. The semiconductor dry strip equipment market is highly competitive and includes a substantial number of local and international players. Among them, Lam Research Corporation, Applied Materials, Inc., Tokyo Electron Limited, and ULVAC Inc. were the leading, and these players provide advanced plasma-based dry strip solutions for both leading-edge and mature process nodes. In addition, some companies, such as Mattson Technology, Inc., PSK Inc., Samco Inc., Jusung Engineering Co., Ltd., Axcelis Technologies, Inc., and Veeco Instruments Inc., concentrate mainly on specialized and niche dry strip technologies for the support of logic, memory, and compound semiconductor manufacturing applications.

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Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Growth Drivers:

• Increasing semiconductor production: The demand for semiconductor-based applications is on the rise. This increased demand leads to a higher volume of semiconductor production. Dry strip equipment plays a crucial role in removing unwanted materials from semiconductor wafers, ensuring the integrity and functionality of the final devices. The growing adoption of IoT devices, the expansion of mobile networks, the integration of advanced electronics in automobiles, and the demand for high-performance computing all contribute to the increased production of semiconductors. Consequently, the demand for dry strip equipment grows in parallel to support the expanding semiconductor production and meet market needs.

• Rising demand for advanced semiconductor devices: The growing demand for advanced semiconductor devices is a significant driver for the semiconductor dry strip equipment market. The consumer electronics industry, including smartphones, tablets, wearable devices, and IoT applications, continues to evolve rapidly, driving the need for smaller, faster, and more efficient semiconductor components. These devices often require complex and miniaturized designs, demanding precise and efficient removal of materials during the fabrication process. As a result, semiconductor manufacturers rely on advanced dry strip equipment to achieve the necessary level of precision and ensure the quality of the final semiconductor products.

However, the semiconductor dry strip equipment market restraints include factors such as high initial costs, regulatory requirements, industry cyclicality, and technological challenges in developing equipment for new materials and architectures.

• Growing Demand for Logic and Memory Devices: The increasing demand for logic and memory devices is one of the key factors that drives the semiconductor dry strip equipment market. This, in turn, has been fueled by the rapid technological advancements as well as the growing usage of electronic devices in various industries. The surge in the production of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other consumer electronics has largely resulted in the increased requirement for high-performance logic chips. On the other hand, data centers, cloud computing, and AI applications are leading to the demand for memory products with high capacity, such as DRAM and 3D NAND. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), the global semiconductor sales reached $72.7 billion in October 2025, representing a 4.7% rise over the $69.5 billion total for September 2025 and 27.2% up on the $57.2 billion for October 2024. Automotive electronics, especially in electric vehicles and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), continue to be a major source of this demand as they need both logic and memory components for power management, connectivity, and autonomous functions. This surge in demand has resulted in significantly higher wafer starts, more complex device architectures, and the use of advanced nodes, all of which require highly accurate and efficient dry strip processes for photoresist removal and post-etch cleaning.

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Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Segment Analysis:

• By Type: Compound Semiconductor: The compound semiconductor segment of the semiconductor dry strip equipment market holds a significant market share. There is a growing demand for gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor dry strip equipment, driven by the increasing adoption of GaN technology in high-power applications such as power electronics, RF devices, and LEDs. As GaN technology expands across industries, there is a corresponding need for specialized dry strip equipment designed specifically for GaN semiconductor processing. This segment of the market is expected to witness substantial growth in response to the increasing GaN semiconductor market. Additionally, the market potential for silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor dry strip equipment is strong. SiC semiconductors offer superior properties for high-temperature, high-voltage, and high-frequency applications. With the demand for SiC devices rising in industries such as automotive, renewable energy, and power electronics, there is a growing need for specialized dry strip equipment tailored to SiC processing requirements. The SiC dry strip equipment market is expected to experience significant growth alongside the expanding SiC semiconductor market.

• By Application: Automotive: Based on application, the semiconductor dry strip equipment market has been segmented into consumer electronics, automotive, industrial electronics, IC manufacturing, and others. The automotive segment in the semiconductor dry strip equipment market is fueled by diverse factors majorly the growing semiconductor sales, along with the increasing shift towards electrification of vehicles, especially boosting the electric vehicles (EVs) sector. EVs require crucial components, namely, a battery management system, advanced power electronics, and efficient semiconductors for handling their operations. This promotes the demand for advanced dry strip equipment utilized in wafer processing and cleaning. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electric car sales are expected to rise by 35 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2025. Furthermore, the 2025 electric car sales were expected to exceed 20 million globally, from 17.3 million electric car units in 2024. This projection indicates that growth in EV sales will increase demand for dry strip equipment to ensure residue-free surfaces required for reliable and efficient EV components. This necessity is also driven by the government incentives for promoting vehicle electrification, growing regulatory pressures for lower emissions, and growing consumer demand for sustainable mobility. Additionally, the automotive manufacturers are investing in research and development for EV electronics and technological advancements like advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), which include radar, sensors, and a LiDAR system, which is powered by semiconductors, will contribute to market expansion. For instance, in January 2026, Texas Instruments announced that it had expanded its automotive semiconductor product portfolio, which is developed for propelling the development of safer, smarter, and advanced driving systems for autonomous vehicles. The new product lineup includes TDA5 high-performance computing SoCs with in vehicle ethernet solution and advanced 4D imaging radar for enhancement in the software-defined and autonomous vehicles. These developments will stimulate the requirement for efficient semiconductor fabrication equipment, including dry strip equipment, in the manufacturing of high-performance chips.

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Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Geographical Outlook:

Based on geography, the semiconductor dry strip equipment market is segmented into North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific. North America, particularly the United States, is a prominent region in the semiconductor dry strip equipment market. Several key semiconductor manufacturers, including Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm, are based in North America. North America is at the forefront of technological advancements, such as the development of advanced memory technologies, 5G wireless communication, and artificial intelligence. These advancements create a need for specialized dry strip equipment capable of handling complex device structures and meeting stringent performance requirements.

• Asia Pacific has a decent market share. The market size in the Asia Pacific can be attributed to factors such as favourable government policies, increasing investments in research and development, and a skilled workforce. The region's robust electronics manufacturing ecosystem, driven by the demand for consumer electronics, automotive electronics, and mobile devices, fuels the need for semiconductor dry strip equipment. In South Korea, the government's "Semiconductor Industry Promotion Plan" provides financial support and incentives to enhance the country's semiconductor sector. Japan's "Rebirth of Japan's Electronics Industry" initiative supports the semiconductor industry through research investment and innovation promotion. These policies aim to strengthen the semiconductor industry in South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.

• Europe, the Middle East, and Africa: Germany: The German semiconductor sector is greatly benefiting from large investments, especially in view of the EU Chips Act, which has led to growing investments for increased European technological sovereignty and less reliance on imports from Asia, which is a major growth driver for semiconductor dry strip equipment in the country. The EU Chips Act, effective from September 2023, targets doubling the current EU semiconductor production market share to 20% by 2030 by leveraging more than €43 billion in policy-related investment, which is forecast to be matched by private investments. In Germany, it has resulted in direct support for new production lines, thereby creating a higher demand for advanced equipment such as dry strip systems. Furthermore, as of October 2025, with an average of two years since the Chips Act was adopted, it has spurred an amount of 69 billion euros on R&D and facilities in Europe, with Germany being one of the main beneficiaries of this program. These investments not only build new fabrication facilities but also incorporate dry strip systems with high yields, thus being the main catalyst for market growth. Additionally, the increasing demand for semiconductors in the industrial marketplace creates a further requirement for dry strip equipment. Electric cars and autonomous transport increase demand for power semiconductors, with dry strip equipment critical for maintaining wafer quality. Regional market players like Bosch, Infineon, and other players lead this trend, particularly in regions such as Baden-Württemberg/Bavaria. Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) registered a steady rise in their number of registrations in April 2025 in Germany, based on recent statistics sourced from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA). In total, 45,535 newly registered BEVs, representing a 53.5% rise from last year's April figures, contributed 18.8% to the overall German automotive market, up from 16.8% in March in the BEV market share. Notably, nearly one-third, i.e.242,728, of newly registered automobiles in Germany are now electrified vehicles as of April 2025. Additionally, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) reported that BEV registration in the country grew to 48,610 units in July 2025, which is 58% variation from 2024/2025. In addition, rising demands for smartphones, tablets, wearables, and the Internet of Things (IoT) products requires for smaller and more powerful chips, where dry stripping is required for precise results. The German Trade & Invest (GTAI) reported that the consumer electronics market would grow by one percent each year until 2028, and reach 25.9 billion by 2024.

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Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Key Developments:

• March 2025: Hitachi High-Tech completed a new semiconductor equipment production facility (Kasado), increasing capacity for etch/strip systems manufacturing and R&D.

• February 2025: Lam Research introduced Akara® conductor-etch (plasma) technology, improved plasma control, indirectly reducing resist residues and easing subsequent dry-strip challenges.

• January 2025: Lam Research's Aether dry photoresist was qualified for direct-print 28-nm BEOL by imec, enabling dry-resist flows that alter strip/clean process requirements.

• 2025: Applied Materials, Inc., unveiled next-gen chipmaking products, including enhancements to etch and removal systems for AI-optimized logic and memory chips.

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Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Product Offerings:

• Kao CLEANTHROUGH A-06: A fast-acting dry film stripper that removes dry film quickly, increasing productivity and reducing the need for new equipment investment.

• Kao CLEANTHROUGH A-19: An amine-free dry film stripper that improves stripping performance without adding to the environmental load. It does not contain amines or toxic substances, reducing the impact on wastewater.

• Lam's GAMMA® Dry Strip System: This system provides efficient and precise photoresist and residue removal for various semiconductor processes. It ensures minimal impact on feature shapes and device materials, offering residue-free results with high throughput. The system is designed to address the challenges of advanced technology nodes while delivering excellent performance and cost-effectiveness.

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Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Scope:

Semiconductor Dry Strip Equipment Market Segmentation:

• By Semiconductor Type

  • Element Semiconductor

  • Compound Semiconductor

• By Technology

  • Capacitive Coupled Plasma (CCP)

  • Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP)

• By Application

  • Consumer Electronics

  • Automotive

  • Industrial Electronics

  • IC Manufacturing

  • Others

• By Geography

  • Americas

    • USA

    • Canada

    • Mexico

    • Brazil

    • Others

  • Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

    • Germany

    • France

    • United Kingdom

    • The Netherlands

    • Italy

    • Spain

    • UAE

    • Others

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • Japan

    • South Korea

    • Taiwan

    • Singapore

    • Others

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