SEMI announces mid-year consensus forecast for chip equipment industry

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: SEMI projects 2010 semiconductor equipment sales to reach $32.50 billion according to the mid-year edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Forecast, released by SEMI at the annual SEMICON West exposition.

The forecast indicates that, following a -46 percent market decline in 2009, the equipment market will expand by 104 percent in 2010 and experience annual growth of about 9 percent in 2011.

"Semiconductor equipment manufacturers are responding to a sharp increase in spending following two years of steep, double-digit declines," said Stanley T. 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.”

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.

Growth is forecasted for all regions 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.

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

Forecast by Equipment SegmentSource: SEMI, USA.

Forecast by RegionSource: SEMI, USA.