SEMI announced that the semiconductor equipment manufacturers in North America shipped in March, which was a slight increase of 0.4% from February, and an increase of 16.7% year-on-year. SEMI said that the shipment performance in the first three months has maintained a steady growth trend.
The continuous investment in the semiconductor industry has also driven the growth of related equipment sales. According to SEMI statistics, the total sales of global semiconductor equipment last year was 56.6 billion US dollars, reaching a record high, increasing by 37% year-on-year.
In terms of individual markets, South Korea for the first time became the world's largest semiconductor new equipment market with a value of US$17.95 billion, while Taiwan ranked second with US$11.49 billion. The Chinese mainland market ranked third in the world for two consecutive years. In terms of product categories, the first-stage equipment increased by about 40%, wafer foundry equipment increased by 36%, packaging equipment increased by 29%, and testing-related equipment increased by 27%.
In addition, according to statistics from international research and consulting firm Gartner, driven by strong growth in the memory market, global semiconductor revenues totaled US$420.4 billion last year, a record high, increasing by more than 20% year-on-year. Gartner said that last year the semiconductor industry created two major milestones. First, revenue exceeded the $400 billion mark. Second, Intel, which has been a global leader in semiconductors for 25 years, was surpassed by Samsung. This is due to the rapid growth of the memory market. The lack of supply has driven up the price of DRAM and NAND Flash. .
Gartner pointed out that just last year, Samsung’s memory revenue increased by nearly US$20 billion to drive it to the top of the championship. However, Samsung’s hegemony will not take too long. When the memory market enters a decline cycle, its advantage will disappear. It may happen at the end of 2019.
At the same time, according to Gartner's data, last year, the world's top 10 semiconductor manufacturers increased revenue by about 30%, and accounted for 58% of the overall market, while the total revenue of all semiconductor manufacturers except the top 10 is only up 11%.