Jun 30 2009
The MEMs device market is faring much better than the overall semiconductor industry but, the MEMs processing equipment market is suffering the same fate as the semiconductor equipment market.
MEMS devices cover a broad spectrum of products such as accelerometers, digital mirror displays, gyroscopes, micro fluidic devices, microphones, and pressure sensors Because they are such a diverse lot, the have fared better than the overall semiconductor industry.
The semiconductor industry declined 2.8% in 2008 and is projected to drop another 21.6% in 2009. The MEMs device market, in contrast, grew 1.2% in 2008 and is projected to increase 1.7% in 2009, according to the report The Global MEMs Device, Equipment, and Materials Markets: Forecasts and Strategies for Vendors and Foundries, recently published by The Information Network.
“The MEMs equipment market dropped 37.5% in 2008 and we project a further drop of 31.2% in 2009, decreases similar to the 32.5% drop in 2008 and our projected 41.0% drop in 2009 for semiconductor equipment,” noted Dr. Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network.
“Fortunately, the MEMs equipment market started to rebound in Q2, while we don’t see an uptick in the semiconductor equipment market until mid-Q3.”