Secondary equipment vendors expecting another good year

PHOENIX, USA: The secondary equipment market grew 77 percent in 2010 to $6 billion. Based on interviews, briefings and informal discussions at SEMICON West, it appears the size of the market will grow even bigger in 2011.

Try Googling the phrase "used semiconductor equipment." How many results came up? About 951,000. "Used semiconductor equipment for sale?" 351,000 results. "Used semiconductor processing equipment?" 2,180,000 results. Making sense of this market is a big job. Anyone involved the semiconductor equipment industry understands the complexities involved. The supply chain is unstructured: a piece of equipment can change hands many times before it is put back into use in a fab. Companies involved in this puzzle include IDMs, foundries, refurbishers, equipment manufacturers, brokers, resellers, and service providers.

At last, all players in the secondary semiconductor equipment, services, and technology markets have a resource to turn to. In a groundbreaking study, SEMI and Semico Research partnered to determine the value of the secondary (used) semiconductor equipment market.

Because the number of fabs running 8" or smaller wafers is huge, the total number of potential sellers and buyers alone is enormous. Even 300mm equipment is getting in on the act; equipment that once ran the latest processors might now be producing analog chips.