Semicon sales to go up by 50 p.c in 2010

TAIPEI, TAIWAN: Year 2010 is seen as painting a rosy picture for semiconductor equipment manufacturers on a global level, with forecast hinting at a huge jump in sales.

According to SEMI, the worldwide semiconductor equipment sales are poised to touch US$21 billion in 2010. This could beam a 50 per cent leap compared to the US$14.1 billion recorded in 2009. The new forecast means the figures estimated are way above the previous expectations of a 47 per cent rise.

The industry has seen continued improvement in equipment bookings. Further, manufacturing capacity utilization has also been boosted, which in turn has laid the path for a sizeable market recovery in 2010. SEMI added that industry-wide wafer fab capacity utilization climbed to 77 per cent during the second quarter of 2009, posting a jump of 56 per cent compared with the previous quarter.

Hinting at a slew of indicators that imply better conditions for both semiconductor and equipment companies, the market analysis firm said that it expects chip fab spending will see sequential growth over the next few quarters.

Significantly enough, the expectations add hopes considering the fact that it had already hit bottom in the second quarter of 2009. In the fourth quarter of 2010, the spending is expected to surpass the level seen in third-quarter 2008, SEMI pointed out.

Earlier, iSuppli had also said that Global chip sales would rise in 2010