Semiconductor Equipment Sales Forecast: $37B in 2015 and $38B in 2016

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SEMI projects that worldwide sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment will decrease 0.6 percent to $37.3 billion in 2015, according to the SEMI Year-end Forecast, released today at the annual SEMICON Japan exposition.  In 2016, nominal positive growth is expected, resulting in a global market increase of 1.4 percent.

The SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts that wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is anticipated to increase 0.7 percent in 2015 to total $29.5 billion. The “Other Front End” category (fab facilities, mask/reticle, and wafer manufacturing equipment) is expected to increase 20.6 percent in 2015. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will decrease by 16.4 percent to $2.6 billion in 2015 and that the market for semiconductor test equipment is forecast to decrease by 7.4 percent, totaling $3.3 billion this year.

For 2015, Taiwan, South Korea, North America, remain the largest spending regions, with investments in Japan approaching North American levels.  SEMI forecasts that in 2016, equipment sales in Europe will climb to $3.4 billion (63.1 percent increase over 2015). After a 13 percent contraction for Europe in 2015, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, Infineon, Intel, and STMicroelectronics are all expected to significantly accelerate fab equipment spending in 2016, resulting in strong growth in the region in 2016.  In Rest of World, essentially Southeast Asia, sales will reach $2.5 billion (25.7 percent increase), the China market will total $5.3 billion (9.1 percent increase), and North America equipment spending will reach $5.9 billion (6.1 percent increase). The equipment markets in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are expected to contract in 2016.

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