Maximum boom in worldwide semiconductor device industry¡¦ The consecutive highest revenues of Korean companies
Kim Eun | silverkim@ | 2017-04-25 09:53:47



Shipment amount of USD 2 hundred million to North America
69% ¡è year on year¡¦ Maximum on monthly basis
SEMES and AP System in ¡®1 trillion club¡¯
EO Technics and Jusung Engineering expect revenue increase
"M&A scale economics" map


[Digital Times, Kim Eun] The semiconductor equipment market is in high demand as the world semiconductor market booming. The North American semiconductor market, a measure of the global semiconductor equipment market, has recorded the highest monthly sales in 16 years since 2001. Korean equipment makers are also expected to be in the throes of successively releasing 1 trillion clubs this year.

According to the International Semiconductor Equipment Association (SEMI), shipments of the North American semiconductor market totaled USD 2.03 billion last month, the highest level since 2001. Sales of major equipment makers such as Applied Materials, LAM Research and the US have increased significantly thanks to the global semiconductor investment boom. Last month shipments of semiconductor equipment manufacturers in North America rose 2.6 % from February`s USD 1.97 billion, up 69.2 % from March`s USD 1.2 billion in the same period last year. The global semiconductor equipment market grew 13 % last year to USD 41.24 billion last year. Total orders also increased 24% from 2015.

The semiconductor equipment market is booming due to aggressive investment by semiconductor companies. Semiconductor manufacturers are enjoying the greatest boom ever, driven by demand for the Internet of Thing (IoT). The investment is also expanding.

In fact, the Chinese government is planning to invest about KRW 200 trillion in construction of 3D NAND flash plant by Chinese companies such as XMC and Tsinghua Unigroup. Intel, TSMC, and others are also building semiconductor facilities under cooperation with China, and sales of related equipment are increasing significantly. In addition, Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, SK Hynix and Micron are investing heavily in 3D NAND flash lines. Related equipment sales also increased and it was the largest sales in 16 years thanks to such semiconductor super cycle. "The March shipments have reached the highest level since March 2001," said Dan Tracey, senior analyst at SEMI. "The semiconductor equipment industry is benefiting from the recent semiconductor investment cycle." He also added.

Korean semiconductor equipment makers also entered a boom in the global semiconductor market boom. In fact, Korea ranked second in terms of equipment purchasing rankings from 2015 to 2016, following Taiwan.

In particular, the growth of domestic semiconductor equipment makers is expected to boost sales to more than KRW 1 trillion this year. SEMES, the No. 1 semiconductor company in Korea, has exceeded KRW 1 trillion in annual sales last year after 2015 and is expected to record sales again this year. The AP system, which surpassed KRW 500 billion in sales for the first time last year, EO Technics, a semiconductor laser equipment maker, said that it will achieve sales of KRW 507.5 billion this year, after having achieved the record sales of KRW 307.7 billion last year. Jusung Engineering has grown more than 50% from last year, and is expected to surpass more than KRW 300 billion this year. "An industry expert said, ¡°Semiconductor equipment makers are benefiting from the world`s semiconductor super cycle and we need to have economies of scale like applied materials and ASML through M&A between domestic equipment makers."

By Kim Eun silverkim@


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