Are You Part of a Healthy, Competitive Supply Chain?
Critical subsystems technologies for semiconductor applications are highly engineered and specialised pieces of equipment. By their nature, only a select group of companies are able to produce these products to the high specifications demanded by...
Cautious Industry Outlook But . . . World SEMI Equipment Growth Resumes!
World Manufacturing Growth Flat to Start 2020 (Chart 1)
The December Global Purchasing Managers Index was in zero growth territory (PMI = 50). However, the various country components varied significantly. With IHS Markit PMI data as a gauge of...
Tide Has Turned
The November Global Purchasing Managers Index moved back into expansion territory (Chart 1). Admittedly results varied significantly by country but world global manufacturing activity resumed growth at year end.
Critical Subsystems Suppliers’ R&D Spend Holding Up
Despite a tough year for critical subsystem suppliers, their overall expenditure on research and development has remained at near record levels – evidence that critical subsystems are indeed critical to the semiconductor manufacturing equipment...
Chillers… A Surprisingly Hot Market
The market for chillers and heat exchangers used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment has more than doubled since 2014 and is expected to reach a total value of $383 million in 2019. The 18 percent compound annual growth rate of this segment...
Semiconductor Industry Upturn by Early 2020?
Reports of 2Q’19 financials from all of the major OEMs in our 213 company global sample show that their electronic equipment sales declined 1.4 percent compared to the same quarter of last year (Chart 1). This OEM group’s combined sales growth...
Tough Times for Silicon Wafer Market Continue After Two Consecutive Quarters of Revenue Decline
The silicon wafer market got off to a rough start in 2019 with major silicon wafer manufacturers’ sales weakening in the first quarter of the year following a sharper memory market downturn than expected. Earnings forecasts for the rest of the year...
Tempered Growth Forecasts and Longer Range Glimmers of Hope
IMF Revises Global Growth Estimates
As World Cycles Turn
Electronic Industry Business Cycles Look Promising (with Reservations)
Korea Expected to Maintain Equipment Spending Lead Over Other Regional Markets
Despite recent global economic uncertainties and a downbeat memory market outlook for the second half of 2019, new 300mm fab construction in Korea is still going strong. The graph below, based on the SEMI World Fab Forecast and WWSEMS reports, shows...