A semiconductor project can begin with a process material, a vacuum subsystem, a wafer tool, an advanced package or an IC design partnership. Those requirements belong to one industry, but they do not lead to the same supplier meetings. The useful question is therefore not which exhibition is “largest”; it is which part of the semiconductor manufacturing chain the buyer needs to examine.
For the broadest international view of microelectronics manufacturing, SEMICON China is the principal benchmark in this selection. CSEAC is more concentrated on semiconductor equipment, materials and the critical parts inside production systems. IC Packaging Fair narrows the trip to back-end assembly, packaging and test, while the Hangzhou exhibition connects design, fabrication, packaging and newer chip platforms within the Yangtze River Delta industrial ecosystem.
The four database records create four travel windows organised around three buyer routes: upstream equipment, materials and tool subsystems; specialist packaging and test; and broader full-chain ecosystem mapping. IC Packaging Fair is still a Shenzhen trip, but it should be planned as a specialist route within NEPCON Asia rather than as a stand-alone fair with a separate venue or visitor calendar.
Four semiconductor records across four travel windows and three buyer routes
| Exhibition | Dates and city | Distinct role |
|---|---|---|
| CSEAC 2026 | 31 August–2 September, Wuxi | Semiconductor production equipment, materials and the core components used inside manufacturing tools and facilities |
| IC Packaging Fair 2026 | 27–29 October, Shenzhen | Back-end packaging and test equipment and materials for ICs, power devices and optoelectronic devices within the NEPCON Asia week |
| SEMICON China 2027 | 24–26 March, Shanghai | The broad microelectronics manufacturing chain, from materials and wafer processing to metrology, factory systems, packaging and test |
| 2nd Hangzhou International Semiconductor & Integrated Circuit Industry Innovation Exhibition 2027 | 27–29 May, Hangzhou | A regional full-chain platform spanning EDA, IC design, fabrication, equipment, materials, packaging and emerging chip architectures |
Start with the process stage, not the chip application
Applications such as automotive electronics, AI computing, medical devices and communications appear across semiconductor exhibitions. They help explain demand, but they do not define the purchasing route. A buyer should first locate the requirement in the manufacturing chain.
Materials and fab inputs include wafers and substrates, gases, chemicals, photoresists, targets, consumables and contamination-control products. CSEAC and SEMICON China offer the strongest starting points in this guide.
Production equipment and tool subsystems include deposition, etch, lithography support, cleaning, thermal processes, metrology, vacuum, gas delivery, precision motion, power and control components. CSEAC is valuable when the search goes inside the tool; SEMICON China provides the wider fab and international supplier context.
Packaging and test begins after wafer fabrication but now influences performance, power, thermal behaviour and system architecture. IC Packaging Fair is the specialist route. SEMICON China adds a broader advanced-packaging ecosystem, while the Hangzhou show connects packaging to design, chip platforms and regional manufacturing partnerships.
IC design and technology platforms lead more naturally to Hangzhou or the relevant SEMICON programmes. A design-services or EDA mission needs different meetings from a team buying a bonder, test handler or wet-process tool, even when all are working on the same end product.
August–September 2026: CSEAC for equipment, materials and core parts
CSEAC 2026 is the fourteenth Semiconductor Equipment, Materials and Core Parts Exhibition, scheduled at Wuxi Taihu International Expo Center. Its official name describes the event unusually well: the show is organised around the production infrastructure behind a chip rather than around finished components or consumer devices.
Where CSEAC is most distinctive
The “core parts” emphasis gives CSEAC a useful position between a general semiconductor exhibition and a factory-component fair. Semiconductor tools depend on vacuum systems, precision stages, RF and power systems, gas and chemical delivery, thermal control, sensors, seals, valves and other high-specification subsystems. Buyers can examine both complete equipment and the parts that determine process stability, maintenance and local service.
The organiser’s current conference programme reinforces this manufacturing focus, with sessions on semiconductor materials, fab capability, key raw and auxiliary materials, equipment and component collaboration. Wuxi is therefore relevant to fabs, tool makers, materials teams, research institutes and buyers building a qualified local supply base for production equipment.
A useful CSEAC brief
For a complete tool, specify the process step, wafer or substrate type and size, target film or feature, throughput, uniformity, process window, contamination limit, automation interface and facility requirements. Tool comparisons become more meaningful when uptime, chamber cleaning, consumable life, preventive maintenance, spare-parts response and field-service capability sit beside the headline process result.
For materials, bring the required grade, purity, trace-metal and particle limits, physical properties, packaging and storage conditions, annual demand and qualification method. Ask for lot-level certificates and statistical consistency data that match the proposed production site, not only a typical specification sheet.
For a core subsystem, define the exact duty and interface inside the parent equipment. Compatibility with vacuum level, process gases, temperature, control protocol, cleanroom conditions and maintenance method matters more than a broad claim that the part is “semiconductor grade”.
October 2026: IC Packaging Fair inside the Shenzhen manufacturing week
IC Packaging Fair runs on the same dates and at the same Bao’an venue as NEPCON Asia and S-Factory Expo. The organiser gives it its own packaging-and-test identity while presenting it within the larger NEPCON platform. For travel planning, this is one Shenzhen electronics-manufacturing week with several technical routes.
Why packaging deserves its own route
Packaging is no longer only the final protective step around a die. SiP, heterogeneous integration, power modules, optical modules, chiplets and high-density interconnects can make package architecture part of system performance. The organiser positions ICPF around packaging and testing equipment and materials for semiconductor ICs, power devices, optoelectronic devices and sensors. Its current page also retains 2025 examples of process demonstrations and conferences, so the detailed 2026 programme should be reconfirmed before travel.
This route suits OSAT engineering and manufacturing teams, IDM packaging operations, device companies developing in-house packaging, equipment buyers, packaging-material suppliers and product companies whose thermal, power or form-factor targets depend on the package.
Define the package before comparing equipment
Start with die and wafer format, device type, package architecture, substrate or interposer, interconnect method, pitch, material stack, thermal path, power and reliability target. Then separate the process into wafer preparation, dicing, attach, bonding, molding or encapsulation, curing, inspection, singulation, handling and electrical test.
Equipment discussions should cover supported formats, alignment and placement accuracy, force and thermal control, cycle time, recipe management, changeover, traceability, inspection coverage, defect handling and integration with existing line systems. For power modules, add current and voltage, thermal cycling, die-attach and interconnect technology, insulation and lifetime tests. For optical modules, alignment, coupling, cleanliness and optical test conditions become central.
The adjacent NEPCON and S-Factory halls are useful when the package will move into PCB assembly or when the same plant is buying automation, inspection, material handling and production software. Those additions should follow a defined manufacturing responsibility; their proximity alone does not make every electronics process part of one equipment comparison.
March 2027: SEMICON China for the broad manufacturing benchmark
SEMICON China 2027 is scheduled for 24–26 March at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Organised by SEMI and the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, it connects suppliers across materials, design, wafer processing, fab equipment, metrology, software, facilities, assembly, packaging and test.
This breadth makes SEMICON China the most useful first choice when an international buyer needs to map the Chinese semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem, compare several process packages or meet both global and Chinese technology suppliers. It also means that a team arriving with only “semiconductor suppliers” as a search brief can lose most of the value of the three days.
Divide SEMICON by process ownership
A fab-equipment team can follow the production flow from incoming wafers and materials through deposition, patterning, etch, clean, thermal processing, implantation, metrology and yield control. A facilities team needs a separate route for gases, chemicals, ultrapure water, vacuum, cleanrooms, abatement, power and factory control. Packaging and test teams can focus on assembly processes, substrates, bonding, inspection, handlers and reliability.
The same event also carries programmes around compound semiconductors, MEMS and sensors, automotive chips, advanced packaging and smart manufacturing. These are useful when they correspond to the project’s substrate, device structure or production route. They are less useful as a general tour of fashionable applications.
The SEMICON China equipment-and-materials supplier guide develops the show-specific work of mapping a process requirement, comparing evidence and planning technical follow-up.
What SEMICON can establish before a supplier visit
An exhibition meeting can establish whether a supplier has a relevant process range, installed-base experience, an engineering team for the required application and a plausible support model. It can also identify which entity owns design, manufacturing, software, installation and service.
Detailed acceptance still depends on controlled data and later work. For equipment, this may include process demonstrations, sample runs, repeatability and capability studies, facility-interface review and acceptance criteria. For materials, it may include samples, analytical data, change-control rules and production-lot qualification. The exhibition is the place to define that evidence plan and select the few suppliers worth taking into it.
May 2027: Hangzhou for a regional full-chain view
The second Hangzhou International Semiconductor & Integrated Circuit Industry Innovation Exhibition is scheduled for 27–29 May at Hangzhou Grand Convention and Exhibition Center. Its official scope covers EDA and IC design, wafer manufacturing, equipment, materials, packaging and test, compound semiconductors and power devices, with additional attention to AI chips, chiplets and RISC-V.
The show is broader than CSEAC and less established than SEMICON China. Its value comes from combining several stages of the chip chain within the Yangtze River Delta and linking them to Hangzhou’s digital-economy and downstream technology base. It is particularly relevant to companies looking for regional design, manufacturing, packaging or technology partners rather than only a global equipment benchmark.
When Hangzhou adds value after Shanghai
The roughly two-month gap after SEMICON China makes Hangzhou a possible follow-up window. A buyer can use Shanghai to build a market map, then return in May with a shorter list of Chinese partners, unresolved design-to-manufacturing interfaces or regional collaboration questions.
The second trip makes sense when it has a different task: for example, matching an IC design to foundry and packaging routes, studying compound-semiconductor or AI-chip ecosystems, or meeting regional industry and investment partners. Repeating the same broad supplier scan would add less value than using the interval to review data and prepare targeted meetings.
Because 2027 is only the second edition, the final exhibitor directory matters. Buyers should check whether the published companies cover their actual process and whether participation is led by technology suppliers, regional institutions or downstream application companies before fixing the length of the visit.
Which semiconductor show fits the purchasing task?
Fab equipment, materials and critical tool components
Choose CSEAC for a concentrated equipment-materials-components route and Wuxi manufacturing context. Choose SEMICON China when the project needs the wider fab chain, international supplier landscape or several connected production packages.
Advanced packaging and test
IC Packaging Fair is the focused choice for back-end process engineering in October. SEMICON China offers the broader packaging ecosystem in March. Hangzhou becomes relevant when packaging must be connected to IC design, local manufacturing or a newer device platform.
A complete semiconductor market map
SEMICON China should lead. Build separate routes for wafer processes, facilities, packaging and test, then use CSEAC or Hangzhou as a later regional or specialist follow-up.
IC design, EDA and regional technology partnerships
Hangzhou provides the clearest full-chain regional route in this selection. SEMICON China remains valuable where design choices must be connected to mainstream manufacturing technology and global suppliers.
A China supplier-development programme across the year
Use the calendar as a staged process: CSEAC for upstream equipment and materials, Shenzhen for packaging and electronics manufacturing, SEMICON China for the broad benchmark, and Hangzhou only where a regional follow-up has a defined purpose. A company does not need all four trips simply because all four records belong to semiconductors.
Build one technical map before booking travel
Create a process-flow diagram showing the input, transformation, output and acceptance measure for each package under review. Mark the current supplier, the reason for seeking an alternative, the data that may be shared at a first meeting and the evidence required before qualification.
Then prepare one sheet per package. Equipment sheets cover process range, substrates, throughput, capability, contamination, utilities, automation, uptime, maintenance and acceptance. Materials sheets cover composition, purity, critical properties, lot control, packaging, storage and change notification. Packaging sheets cover architecture, interconnect, dimensions, thermal and electrical targets, reliability, process steps, yield and test coverage.
Semiconductor projects may also involve export-control, licensing, confidentiality and intellectual-property restrictions. Establish the applicable legal boundary before sending controlled drawings, recipes, source code or process data to exhibitors. Within that boundary, Xentra Global can support exhibitor research, technical meeting preparation, interpretation and follow-up supplier or factory-visit planning around the selected exhibition.
Official sources
- CSEAC — official 2026 dates, venue and event introduction
- CSEAC — official 2026 conference programme
- IC Packaging Fair — official packaging-and-test programme
- NEPCON Asia — official 2026 dates, venue and concurrent-event structure
- SEMICON China — official 2027 dates, venue and organiser information
- Hangzhou semiconductor exhibition — official 2027 edition, dates, venue and scope
Information verified and updated on 30 July 2026. Organisers may change registration arrangements, exhibitor lists, conference programmes or hall allocations; confirm the current official page before booking travel.