Spending on semicon equipment will rise in H2

By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 24 September 2009, 22:19 IST
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Bangalore: The spending on semiconductor capital equipment will return to the growth path in the second half of 2009 with a 47.3 percent rise in spending, according to analyst firm Gartner. But market is expected to decline 47.9 percent due to the steep declines in spending in the first half of this year. "Equipment purchases for the remainder of 2009 and the first half of 2010 will be mostly technology buys, as memory companies get ready for copper implementation, and double patterning for critical geometries in the 5x nm and 4x nm generations," said Dean Freeman, Research Vice President at Gartner to Business Standard. The report also said that the semiconductor capital equipment spending will bounce back in 2010, when revenue forecast is expected to increase 34.3 percent to touch $30.7 billion. Worldwide wafer fab equipment (WFE) spending is expected to decrease by 48.8 percent in 2009. But all segments of the market including wafer fab equipment, packaging and assembly equipment and automated test equipment at expected to grow at a healthy space in 2010, the report added. "Capacity will begin to ramp in the second half of 2010 as businesses and consumers begin to open up their pocket books to purchase electronic goods, and more consistent semiconductor growth should be occurring worldwide," added Freeman. For 2010, WFE spending is expected to increase 38.3 percent. Similarly, the packaging and assembly equipment (PAE) spending which is expected to decline 43.1 percent in 2009 is expected to bounce back in 2010 with an increase of 40.5 percent. The recovery for PAE began in the second quarter of this year as the market bounced off its sharp correction in the fourth quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of 2009, the report added.