Wet chemicals for semiconductor device processing 2010: market to fully recover in 2012

DUBLIN, IRELAND: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Wet Chemicals for Semiconductor Device Processing" report to its offering.

Sales of wet chemicals for chip manufacturing plummeted 50 percent in the first half of 2009 but recovered in the fourth quarter for a net 22 percent decline from 2008 according to "Wet Chemicals for Semiconductor Device Processing 2010".

The year-long recession left in its wake a $754m 2009 market for electronic wet chemicals that is not expected to recover to the $968M 2008 levels until the second half of 2012.

Global market share is distributed among nine players with 5 percent or more, led by BASF and Kanto with 16 percent each. There are, however, vast regional differences in market leadership, particularly in Taiwan, Korea and China.

KMG's US market share leadership at 40 percent was further widened with its acquisition of General Chemical and its 17 percent share in the first quarter of 2010.

With the continuing migration of semiconductor manufacturing in Asia, the US has fallen to a fourth place 14 percent in volume consumption of electronic wet chemicals, behind Japan, Taiwan and Korea. In spending on these chemicals, however, the US is slightly ahead of Taiwan and Korea due to a disproportionate demand for higher performance chemicals for leading edge technologies.