Sep 4 2009
Huge ramps in semiconductor equipment purchases by leading foundries and IDMs in July and August will result in the equipment market ending 2009 dropping 40% instead of 46% previously forecast, according to the report “The Global Market for Equipment and Materials for IC Manufacturing,” recently published by The Information Network, a New Tripoli, PA-based market research company.
“As we stated on August 13, Applied Materials’ results clearly confirmed that the downturn in the semiconductor equipment market is over,” noted Dr. Robert Castellano, president of The Information Network. “Semiconductor equipment purchased in July was up 12.0% and growth continued sequentially in August, increasing 14.6% and taking sales to $869 million.”
The chart below compares The Information Network’s leading indicators with semiconductor equipment sales on a monthly basis.
The report also notes that The Information Network raised its semiconductor forecast growth for full year 2009 to be minus 17%. The company expects the foundry sector to underperform the semiconductor market by 2 or 3 percentage points, thus down 19% or 20% from 2009.
“Our proprietary leading indicators determine inflection points in economic activity and which we utilize to show turning points in semiconductor equipment sales,” added Dr. Castellano, president of The Information Network.