Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 13): Global sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment are projected to increase 9.7% to US$62.1 billion in 2018, exceeding the historic high of US$56.6 billion set last year, according to the US-based Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI).

In a statement on its website yesterday, SEMI said the equipment market is expected to contract 4% in 2019 but grow 20.7% to reach US$71.9 billion, an all-time high.

Meanwhile, the SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts wafer processing equipment will rise 10.2% in 2018 to US$50.2 billion.

SEMI said the other front-end segment – consisting of fab facilities equipment, wafer manufacturing, and mask/reticle equipment – is expected to increase 0.9% to US$2.5 billion this year.

It said the assembly and packaging equipment segment is projected to grow 1.9% to US$4.0 billion in 2018, while semiconductor test equipment is forecast to increase 15.6% to US$5.4 billion this year.

For 2019, SEMI forecasts that South Korea, China, and Taiwan will remain the top three markets, with all three regions maintaining their relative rankings.

It said equipment sales in South Korea is forecast to reach US$13.2 billion, in China US$12.5 billion, and in Taiwan US$11.81 billion.

It said Japan, Taiwan and North America are the only regions expected to experience growth next year.

SEMI said the growth picture is much more optimistic in 2020, with all regional markets expected to increase in 2020, with the market increasing the most in Korea, followed by China, and Rest of World.

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