SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) forecast that global chip equipment spending will reach $43.98 billion in 2014, up 21% year on year from its 2013 projection, according to the association's press release on July 8. Factors propelling the spending include investments in NAND flash memory fabs by Samsung in China and Toshiba/Scandisk in Japan, as well as Intel's fabs in Ireland. Taiwan will continue to be the world's largest spender on chip equipment, with $10.62 billion anticipated for 2014; China will see the strongest growth among other regions, surging 82% year-on-year from US$2.81 billion in 2013 to US$5.11 billion in 2014. Chip manufacturers' capacity expansion is buttressed by the rising demand for smartphones and tablets, said SEMI.