SEMI announces mid-year consensus forecast for chip equipment industry

SEMI projects 2009 semiconductor equipment sales to reach $14.14 billion according to the mid-year edition of the SEMI Capital Equipment Forecast, released here today by SEMI at the annual SEMICON West exposition.

The forecast indicates that, following a 31 percent market decline in 2008, the equipment market will decline another 52 percent in 2009, but will experience a rebound with annual growth of about 47 percent in 2010.

"Spending on semiconductor manufacturing equipment this year will reach low levels experienced 15 years or so ago," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "Forecasting has never been more challenging, though we expect 2010 spending to show double-digit improvement off of extremely low levels in 2009."

Wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is expected to decline 53 percent in 2009 to $10.42 billion. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will decline by 53 percent to $958 million in 2009. The market for semiconductor test equipment is forecasted to decline by about 48 percent to $1.78 billion this year.

Growth is anticipated to be negative in all regions in 2009 with the North American market claiming the number one spot from Japan. Japan will fall to the number two spot, followed by Taiwan. The South Korea market is expected to contract 62 percent, resulting in the fourth largest market for new equipment.