Chip making equipment sales to double in 2010, says SEMI

LONDON – The value of sales of chip making equipment will increase by 104 percent year-on-year to $32.50 billion in 2010, according to industry body Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI). The body has predicted that, following a 46 percent market decline in 2009, the equipment market will expand by 104 percent in 2010 and then show an annual growth of about 9 percent in 2011.

Wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is expected to increase 107 percent in 2010 to $24.46 billion. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will grow by 109 percent to $2.95 billion in 2010. The market for semiconductor test equipment is also forecasted to grow by more than 100 percent to reach $3.23 billion this year.

The story is one of growth all round by geography as well in 2010, with Taiwan being the largest market for equipment spending followed by South Korea. North America will be the third largest market in overall spending on semiconductor equipment. China and the Rest of World regions will experience growth rates over 100 percent.

"Semiconductor equipment manufacturers are responding to a sharp increase in spending following two years of steep, double-digit declines," said Stan Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "The moderate growth currently forecasted for 2011 is dependent on how the broader economy performs over the next six months or so.”

Related links and articles:

www.semi.org

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The following results are given in terms of market size in billions of U.S. dollars and percentage  growth over the prior year:

Forecast by equipment segment (in dollar billions)

Forecast by region (in dollar billions)

*Totals and percentages may differ due to rounding of numbers