Biggest semiconductor equipment vendors getting bigger with Applied Materials-Varian deal

NEW TRIPOLI, USA: The Applied Materials acquisition of Varian Semiconductor strengthens its dominance of the semiconductor equipment market, as top 10 vendors dominate, according to our report Applied Materials: Competing for World Dominance,.

According to the chart below, Applied Materials was ranked number 1 in the semiconductor wafer front-end equipment industry and Varian Semiconductor was ranked number 8. The acquisition of Varian Semiconductor will solidify Applied’s lead and at the same time enable Applied to re-enter the Ion Implantation business, a market it withdrew from in 2008.Source: The Information Network, USA.

Most interestingly, for 2010 is the fact that the growth of the top 10 wafer front-end equipment manufacturers increased a full 20 percent greater than the combined total of all the other equipment suppliers. What’s more, while the top 10 equipment companies generated 42 percent of total wafer front-end equipment sales in 2009, their share grew to 45 percent in 2010.