Semicon forecast 2015: Equipment sales to rise from $38 bn in 2014 to nearly $44 bn in 2015!

TOKYO, JAPAN: SEMI projects that worldwide sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment will increase 19.3 percent to $38 billion in 2014, according to the SEMI Year-end Forecast, released at the annual SEMICON Japan exposition.

In 2015, strong positive growth is expected to continue, resulting in a global market increase of 15.2 percent before moderating in 2016.

The SEMI Year-end Forecast predicts that wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is anticipated to increase 17.8 percent in 2014 to total $29.9 billion.

The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will increase by 30.6 percent to $3.0 billion in 2014. The market for semiconductor test equipment is forecast to increase by 26.5 percent, 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 percent 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 percent increase over 2014), Taiwan will reach $12.3 billion (28.1 percent increase), and South Korea sales will hit $8.0 billion (25 percent increase).