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Semiconductor metrology/inspection equipment still can’t top overall WFE equipment market

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Harmeet
New Update

USA: One would think that as chip dimensions got smaller, there would be increasing demand for metrology/inspection equipment to monitor critical issues as killer defects threaten the yield of advanced chips.

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Not so.

According to our latest report Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control in VLSI Manufacturing, revenues for the sector decreased 13.9 percent in 2013, while the front-end equipment market decreased slightly less at 11.5 percent.

Keep in mind that, as stated in our previous e-mail revenue growth was significantly impacted by the strong Yen in 2013. You can read about it in our blog in Seeking Alpha at http://seekingalpha.com/article/2144853-the-semiconductor-equipment-market-really-didnt-decrease-14-percent-in-2013-did-it!

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In fact, only four times did the Semiconductor Metrology/Inspection market outperform the overall front-end semiconductor equipment market - 2005, 2008, 2011, and 2012.

According to our report, KLA-Tencor was the market leader in 2013 for the entire process control market with a 48.1 percent share of the market, well ahead of Applied Materials and FEI with an 11.9 percent share and 9.6 percent, respectively. KLA-Tencor's market share increased from 47.3 percent in 2012.

The author is the President of The Information Network, USA.

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