The International Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI) recently announced the mid-year overall equipment forecast report (annual equipment forecast), and it is estimated that the global original equipment supplier (OEM) semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales will decrease by 18.4% to US$52.7 billion in 2019. , lower than the historical high of $64.5 billion last year.
According to the SEMI report, Taiwan will seize the world's largest equipment market from South Korea, with the growth rate of 21.1% growth rate ranking first in the world, and North America growth of 8.4%; China will maintain second place for the second consecutive year. South Korea will fall to third place due to reduced capital expenditures.
Except for Taiwan and North America, overall spending in all regions this year will show a shrinking trend.
The report, published at SEMICON West 2019, predicts that equipment sales will resume growth in 2020, when it will jump 11.6% to $58.8 billion. The latest forecast also reflects that capital expenditures have been in a downward trend in recent days, and due to geopolitical tensions and other factors, market uncertainty continues to rise.
SEMI's mid-year overall equipment forecast report shows that sales of wafer processing equipment is expected to decline by 19.1% to $42.2 billion in 2019. Other front-end equipment, including fab equipment, wafer fabrication, and reticle/lens reticle equipment, is expected to decline 4.2% to $2.6 billion this year. Part of the packaging equipment in 2019 is expected to decrease by 22.6%. To $3.1 billion, semiconductor test equipment is also expected to decline 16.4% to $4.7 billion this year.
SEMI predicts that by 2020, the equipment market is expected to recover due to strong memory-related spending and new plants in mainland China. By then, Japan's equipment sales will surge 46.4% to reach 9 billion US dollars, and it is expected that China, South Korea and Taiwan will remain the top three markets next year, and mainland China will be the world's first champion. It is estimated that South Korea will become the second largest market with US$11.7 billion, and Taiwan is expected to reach US$11.5 billion in equipment sales. If the overall economic situation improves in 2020 and trade tensions subsidize, there is room for improvement in the above data.
The mid-year overall equipment forecast report is based on SEMI's industry-recognized World Fab Forecast database and information provided by equipment manufacturers. The overall equipment includes wafer processing, other front-end equipment, overall testing, and assembly and packaging equipment.
