Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales continued to sink in 2002, dropping by more than 30 percent and marking the second consecutive year of decline, according to Gartner Inc.
 
Excluding test equipment, worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales totaled $18.5 billion in 2002, a decline of 30.4 percent from 2001.

"The dire outcome of 2002 was the result of slower-than-anticipated end-user demand and an increasing level of macroeconomic uncertainty that hit semiconductor vendors rapidly in the second half of 2002," said Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, VP of Gartner's semiconductor research group, in a statement. "Consequently, spending plans were adjusted downward, projects were delayed or shelved, and equipment orders were either pushed out or cancelled."

The market was easier on companies in hotter technology segments, such as lithography and photomask, copper interconnect, factory automation, contact probe, flip chip and interconnect bonding in general. Companies more strongly dependent on capacity buys and Greenfield activity were hit harder, the research house noted.

While Gartner said that all major segments were affected last year by the industry decline, electrochemical deposition (ECD) and low-density plasma deposition fared better than most segments, only decreasing 11.2 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.

"Some small emerging technologies such as atomic layer deposition (ALD), which grew 53.2 percent, and silicon germanium epitaxy, which increased 55 percent, grew above the marketplace as these new technologies are beginning to emerge from R&D and move into production," Rinnen said.

High-current implanter with the emergence of advanced transistors and SOI technology declined 22 percent year-over-year. High-voltage implant, on the strength of the memory market, decreased 19.3 percent. "Segments associated with factory automation also saw above-market growth as 300mm fabs and advanced automation at leading-edge fabs continued to implement advanced automation technology, resulting in only a 26 percent decline in this segment," Rinnen said.

The wafer fab equipment market, even with a 31.6 percent decline in 2002, continued to lead the market, Gartner said. Worldwide wafer fab equipment sales totaled $16.53 billion, which represented 89.1 percent of all semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales in 2002.

Meanwhile, packaging and assembly equipment sales hit $2.34 billion in 2002, a 21.7 percent decline from 2001 sales. Wire bonders continued to be the largest equipment segment for semiconductor packaging, accounting for nearly 16 percent of the identified packaging equipment market.

By: DocMemory
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