Tokyo, Japan -- Prices for used chipmaking machines have soared over the past two years on strong demand, especially in China, which is expected to account for a fifth of global chip production capacity this year.

Used lithography machines used to etch circuits onto silicon wafers have doubled in price, according to industry sources.

This booming market reflects a high level of investment in the production of chips for cars and appliances, a less advanced but still lucrative sector compared to high-end chips for smartphones.

"This is an unprecedented boom in used semiconductor production machinery," said Shuji Kumazawa, senior vice president at SurplusGLOBAL Japan, a supplier of used chip-making equipment. He added that once the item is on the market, buyers will appear.

As the chip shortage continues, chip makers are expanding existing production lines and building new ones. The Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan estimates sales of Japanese-made chip-making equipment hit a record 3.35 trillion yen ($26 billion) in the fiscal year ended March 31, up 41 percent from fiscal 2020.

Suppliers of chip-making equipment cannot keep up with the high demand.

"The delivery time for new products has been extended from one year to about one and a half years," said a representative of a leasing company.

Chipmakers are scrambling to address longer waiting periods for new devices. The world's top contract chipmaker has sent "multiple teams" to assist machine suppliers, Eric Wei, TSMC's chief executive, said on an earnings call last week.

"We are trying to solve all the problems for tool suppliers," Wei said.

Used equipment can be obtained within a month or so. Leasing companies and brokers buy machines no longer used from advanced chipmakers and resell them to commodity-grade ship manufacturers.

"To be honest, we prefer new machines, but to cope with the sudden increase in customer production, we chose used substitutes because they can be procured quickly," said a representative of a chip manufacturer.