Asia Pacific has turned the tables on the formerly dominant regions of the United States, Japan and Europe and will take a lion’s share of wafer fab business when new capacity comes online, according to market research firm Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA) this week.

There has been a dramatic shift where new capacity is concerned, which SMA president George Burns equates to an earthquake, since from 1995 to 1999, 61 percent of all new capacity came from Europe, Japan and United States, whereas 62 percent is now coming from the Asia Pacific region.

“It’s amazing that China’s share of new capacity has tripled in recent years and it now closing in on that of the U.S.,” Burns said.

Further, more new capacity is coming online in Taiwan than anywhere else with one-fourth of all new capacity coming online on one little island, he said.

The United States’ share of new capacity has slipped to second place from 26 percent to 16 percent.

Like the United States, both Japan’s and Europe’s share of new capacity has fallen sharply. Japan, which was once a leader in the semiconductor industry, has seen its share fall from 19 to 12 percent. Similarly, Europe’s share has decreased from 17 to 10 percent.

“Two words summarize it: foundries and DRAM. Eighty percent of all foundry capacity is located in Asia Pacific. And more than one-half the DRAM capacity is there. According to our studies foundries and DRAMs consistently account for more than half of all new fab activity, sometimes two-thirds,” Burns continued.

“The regions that were once the center of the industry may soon find themselves on the periphery,” he concluded.

By: DocMemory
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