SEMI, San Jose, Calif., projects that worldwide sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment will increase by 19.3% to $38.0 billion in 2014, according to its year-end forecast. In 2015, strong positive growth is expected to continue, resulting in a global market increase of 15.2% before moderating in 2016.
The SEMI forecast predicts that wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is anticipated to increase by 17.8% in 2014, to total $29.9 billion. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will increase by 30.6% to $3.0 billion in 2014.
The market for semiconductor test equipment is forecast to increase by 26.5%, reaching $3.4 billion this year. The “Other Front End” category (fab facilities, mask/reticle, and wafer manufacturing equipment) is expected to increase 14.8% in 2014.
For 2014, Taiwan, North America, and South Korea remain the largest spending regions. In terms of percentage growth, SEMI forecasts that in 2015, Europe will reach equipment sales of $3.9 billion (47.9% increase over 2014), Taiwan will reach $12.3 billion (28.1% increase), and South Korea sales will hit $8.0 billion (25.0% increase).
