Mar. 3, 2009 – Spending on worldwide fabs for frontend manufacturing will hit a 15-year low point in 2009, with double-digit declines in construction spending across all geographic regions, according to data from SEMI’s World Fab Forecast.

Only eight new facilities are seen opening their doors this year, bumping up to 10 possibly in 2010, the group notes in a press release. The only possible exception to the slowdown is in the Americas, where spending levels have been rock-bottom over the last few years, but should get a boost from Intel and AMD. Both firms have announced “multibillion-dollar plans” for facility upgrades and capacity expansion, both domestically and overseas — domestic investments that are the largest in two years, notes SEMI.

No surprise that the memory sector has been hit particularly hard; Qimonda, notably, which has filed for insolvency, has shut down US manufacturing shutdown and reduced capacity by 75% in its frontend fab in Dresden for 1Q09.