facebook rss twitter

Worldwide Semiconductor Capital Equipment Spending Grew 143 Percent in 2010, According to Final Results by Gartner

Tags: Gartner (NYSE:IT)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa5gv

Add to My Vault: x

Press release

The worldwide semiconductor equipment market grew 143 percent in 2010 to nearly $41 billion as the market recovered from the industry slowdown of the previous two years, according to final results from Gartner Inc. All major market segments grew significantly in 2010 with automatic test equipment (ATE) sales up by 149 percent, wafer fab equipment (WFE) sales up by 145 percent and sales of packaging assembly equipment (PAE) up by 127 percent.

"The semiconductor equipment market soared in 2010. Driven by the pent-up demand from the 2008 and 2009 downturn, and a stronger economy than projected, 2010 just kept getting better and better," said Klaus Rinnen, managing vice president at Gartner. "Memory and foundry spending were the key drivers, although all areas showed significant growth."

"The year began with technology buys, and capacity purchases soon followed, resulting in one of the hottest growth years in industry history," said Mr. Rinnen. "We also witnessed a number of changes in the top 10 semiconductor capital equipment companies, as strength in double patterning benefited some companies more than others."

The share of the top 10 semiconductor capital equipment companies rose nearly 2 points in 2010, accounting for 63.4 percent of total revenue, up from 61.6 percent in 2009 (see Table 1).

Table 1
Top 10 Companies' Revenue from Shipments of Total Semiconductor Equipment, Worldwide (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

2009 Rank

2010 Rank

Company

2009 Revenue

2010 Revenue

2010 Market Share (%)

2009-2010 Growth (%)

1

1

Applied Materials

2,535

6,017

15

137

3

2

ASML

1,617

5,160

13

219

2

3

Tokyo Electron

1,653

4,267

10

158

5

4

Lam Research

863

2,552

6

196

4

5

KLA-Tencor

939

1,893

5

101

7

6

Dainippon Screen

635

1,460

4

130

10

7

Teradyne

396

1,224

3

209

8

8

ASM International

548

1,205

3

120

6

9

Nikon

787

1,168

3

48

9

10

Novellus Systems

440

1,109

3

152

 

 

Others

6,500

15,026

37

131

 

 

Total Market

16,914

41,079

100

143

 

 

OEM Elimination

171

440

 

157

 

 

Net Total Market

16,743

40,639

 

143

Source: Gartner (March 2011)

Applied Materials retained the No. 1 position in the market, but it could not increase its share because it did not directly capitalize on the strong lithography spending in 2010. ASML was the fastest-growing company among the top 10 semiconductor capital equipment vendors in 2010. The company moved from No. 3 to No. 2 based on the strength of immersion lithography for double patterning, growing to 13 percent market share. Tokyo Electron dropped to the No. 3 position, despite gaining some additional market share. Tokyo Electron's dominance in track and the associated growth was unable to offset relatively slower spending by some of its key customers.

The recent earthquake in Japan is going to have a near-term impact on the industry, depressing quarterly revenue in the second quarter of 2011. However, Gartner analysts said semiconductor equipment manufacturers should be able to recover in the second half of the year.

"Clearly there are some materials supply challenges ahead of the industry in the aftermath of the tragic events in Japan. Recent news points at a narrow avoidance of shortages for silicon and BT resin. The industry still faces challenges in the coming months," said Mr. Rinnen.

This research is produced by Gartner's Semiconductor Manufacturing program. This research program, which is part of the overall semiconductor research group, provides a comprehensive view of the entire semiconductor industry, from manufacturing to device and application market trends. More information on Gartner's semiconductor research can be found in the Gartner Semiconductor Manufacturing Focus Area at http://www.gartner.com/it/products/research/asset_129175_2395.jsp.