Global chip sales will reach $1.51 trillion in 2026, up 90% in one year, according to the WSTS Spring 2026 forecast. In the US, the Semiconductor Industry Association counts more than 160 announced projects across 30 states, backed by $825.8 billion in private investment.
Sources: WSTS Spring 2026 forecast; Semiconductor Industry Association.
That money turns into purchase orders for chemicals, tools, software, staffing, logistics and facility services. The catch for suppliers is that “semiconductor” covers at least 15 kinds of company. A foundry’s fab manager buys specialty gases and spare parts. A fabless design manager buys EDA licenses and cloud compute. One campaign cannot speak to both.
Below are the 15 types, with who to reach and what sells at each. If you want named accounts instead of categories, start with our list of the top 50 semiconductor companies in the US, which profiles each company and the teams to contact.
Who designs, who builds, and who packages. Types 1 to 4.
IDMs design and manufacture their own chips.
Fab operations heads, process engineering managers, procurement directors
Equipment, spare parts, chemicals, facility services, industrial automation
They design chips and outsource all manufacturing.
VPs of engineering, design and verification managers, supply chain leads who manage foundry relationships
EDA tools, IP, cloud compute, design services, engineering talent
They manufacture chips for other companies.
Fab managers, yield and process engineers, facilities and EHS heads, sourcing managers
Wafer fab equipment, gases and chemicals, ultrapure water systems, cleanroom supplies, maintenance contracts
They package and test finished wafers.
Packaging engineering heads, test operations managers, quality directors
Packaging materials, substrates, test handlers, inspection systems, automation
Span’s semiconductor industry database includes a segment field (fabless, IDM, foundry, OSAT), so you can pull one type at a time.
Segments defined by what the chip does. Types 5 to 10.
DRAM, NAND and high-bandwidth memory.
Capital project leads, procurement directors, process engineering managers
Equipment, materials, construction and facility services, test
Note: WSTS expects memory revenue to grow about 250% in 2026, the fastest of any category. If you sell into capacity expansion, start here.
Chips that manage power and signals in cars, factories and medical devices. Several, including Analog Devices and Microchip, run their own mature-node fabs.
Product line managers, applications engineering heads, operations VPs
Spare parts and refurbished tools for mature-node fabs, test services, distribution partnerships
Silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) devices for EVs, chargers, solar and data center power.
Materials engineering managers, epitaxy and crystal growth leads, automotive quality heads
SiC substrates, epitaxy tools, high-temperature test, automotive-grade reliability services
Chips for 5G, Wi-Fi, satellite and radar.
RF design managers, test engineering leads, supply chain managers
RF test and measurement, compound semiconductor materials, advanced packaging
Image sensors, MEMS, lasers and optical components.
R&D directors, process development managers, product managers
Specialty materials, precision optics, wafer-level packaging, calibration and test
AI chip companies, plus the in-house chip teams at the largest technology and automotive companies.
Heads of silicon engineering, physical design and verification leads, technical program managers
EDA, IP, emulation hardware, cloud compute, design services, specialist recruiting
Note: In-house teams sit inside companies classified as consumer electronics, software or automotive. An industry filter will never find them. You need title-level targeting.
The companies that sell tools, materials and software to chip makers. Types 11 to 15.
Deposition, etch, lithography and implant tools.
Commodity and supply chain managers, manufacturing engineering heads, field service leaders
Precision components, subsystems, contract manufacturing, field service software, logistics
Tools that test finished chips and measure wafers during production.
Hardware engineering managers, sourcing managers, applications engineering heads
Optics, motion and precision electronic components, contract manufacturing, software talent
Wafers, photoresists, photomasks, CMP slurries and specialty gases.
Plant managers, R&D chemists, quality, EHS and logistics heads
Raw materials, purification and filtration, hazmat packaging and logistics, lab instruments
Note: If chemicals are your core market, pair this segment with Span’s chemical industry contacts.
Chip design software and licensable design blocks.
Product managers, partner and alliance managers, engineering leadership
Cloud and HPC infrastructure, developer tools, technical marketing, engineering recruiting
They move chips from makers to thousands of OEMs.
Supplier marketing managers, line card managers, e-commerce and supply chain heads
Supply chain software, e-commerce and data tools, logistics, demand creation services
Tell us the type and the buyer, and we will scope the count for you.
Most list pulls start with NAICS 334413 (semiconductor and related device manufacturing). That code generally captures the chip makers in Groups 1 and 2. Six types are often coded somewhere else:
| Type | Where it is often coded |
|---|---|
| Wafer fab equipment makers | NAICS 333242, semiconductor machinery manufacturing |
| Test, inspection and metrology makers | NAICS 334515, electrical test and measuring instruments |
| Materials, chemicals and gases suppliers | NAICS 325, chemical manufacturing |
| EDA and IP vendors | NAICS 513210 (software publishers) or 533110 (IP licensing) |
| Electronic component distributors | NAICS 423690, electronic parts wholesalers |
| In-house silicon teams | The parent company’s code |
✓ Build the list by segment and job title together, and these accounts stay in your pipeline.
Read the “What sells” lines and shortlist the types where your product needs no explanation.
WSTS projects 2026 growth of about 250% for memory, 37% for logic, 10% for analog, 8% for discretes, and 3% for sensors and optoelectronics.
Procurement owns the vendor list and engineering owns the specification. Add chief procurement officers and supply chain executives alongside the engineering lead on every account.
Span Global Services maintains 227,317+ verified semiconductor industry contacts. Tell us which of the 15 types you sell to, and we will build the list by segment, title and region.
There are 15 types in three groups. Chip makers by business model (IDMs, fabless designers, pure-play foundries, OSATs), chip makers by product (memory, analog and mixed-signal, power and compound, RF, sensors and optoelectronics, AI and custom silicon), and the supply ecosystem (fab equipment, test and metrology, materials and gases, EDA and IP, distributors).
A fabless company such as NVIDIA or Qualcomm designs chips and outsources all manufacturing. A pure-play foundry such as TSMC or GlobalFoundries manufactures chips for other companies. Fabless teams buy EDA tools, IP and cloud compute. Foundries buy fab equipment, gases, chemicals and cleanroom supplies.
Memory. WSTS projects memory revenue growth of about 250% in 2026, followed by logic at 37%, analog at 10%, discretes at 8%, and sensors and optoelectronics at 3%.
NAICS 334413 generally captures chip makers. Fab equipment makers, test and metrology makers, materials suppliers, EDA and IP vendors, distributors and in-house silicon teams are often coded under other industries, so a code-only filter drops them. Targeting by segment and job title together keeps them in your list.
Reach both buyers on every account. Procurement owns the vendor list and engineering owns the specification. Pair the engineering lead for your segment (for example a fab manager, design manager or packaging head) with the chief procurement officer or supply chain executive.
