Semiconductor New Equipment Market $32.0 Billion For 2013

Orders for new equipment slowly improved early on in 2013, with bookings reaching a peak by the second quarter before receding in the third quarter.

Over this time, equipment billings, while increasing, were trending below 2012 levels. In October, book-to-bill data from both SEMI and the SEAJ show bookings are increasing once again, and this indicates a stronger fourth quarter for the semiconductor equipment market compared to the third quarter. Given these trends, the recently published SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts that the new equipment market will contract 13.3% for this year (to $32.0 billion) and increase 23.2% for 2014, with another market gain of 2.4% expected for 2015.

The SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts that new wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is anticipated to decrease 10.7% in 2013 to total $25.1 billion, on par with 2004 spending levels. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will decline by 22.1% to $2.4 billion in 2013. The market for semiconductor test equipment is forecasted to decline by 20.7%, reaching $2.8 billion this year. The “Other Front End” category (fab facilities, mask/reticle, and wafer manufacturing equipment) is expected in decrease 25.2% in 2013.

Korea, Taiwan, and North America remain the largest spending regions, though of the three only Taiwan is expected to show an increase in spending for 2013. According to SEMI, in 2013, Taiwan will reach equipment sales of $10.2 billion, with North American sales totaling $5.7 billion and Korea sales registering $5.5 billion. Regions experiencing the steepest declines in spending in 2013 include: Korea, North America, and Europe. The equipment market in Rest of World, primarily Southeast Asia, is expected to increase 3.2% due to investments by GlobalFoundries and Micron. Sizable investments by Samsung, SK Hynix and SMIC are projected to spur growth in the China equipment market this year and the next.

Projects driving the Taiwan equipment market this year and the next include but are not limited to TSMC’s Fab 12, Fab 14, and Fab 15. Inotera is also upgrading its Fab 1 and Fab 2, while Macronic, Micron, Nanya, and UMC are investing in the region.

In 2014, all regions except Rest of World are expected to have strong positive growth, resulting in a global increase of 23.2% in sales. 2015 sales are expected to continue to grow — increasing 2.4% with Europe, Japan, Korea, China, and Rest of World regions registering positive growth.

The following results are given in terms of market size in billions of U.S. dollars.

The SEMI Industry Research and Statistics group provides timely market and trend information for market research, competitive analysis, and sales forecasting. We focus on the global semiconductor capital equipment, selected materials markets and fab forecasting data. Please visit www.semi.org/marketinfo for additional information.