Worldwide sales of semiconductor and packaging materials increased 3% to $44.3 billion in 2014, marking the first revenue increase since 2011, according to the trade association SEMI.
Total wafer fabrication materials sales increased 6% to $34 billion in 2014, while packaging materials revenue was $20.4 billion, the same as 2013, the association says.
Wafer fabrication materials include silicon, photomasks, gases, chemicals, resist, process gases and ancillaries needed for chip production. Packaging materials include lead frames, substrates, bonding wire, mold compounds and encapsulants, among others.
If bonding wire was excluded from packaging, the segment would have increased more than 4%, SEMI says. The ongoing transition to copper-based bonding wire from gold is negatively impacting overall packaging materials revenues.
Source: SEMI. Click to enlargeRegionally, Taiwan was the largest consumer of semiconductor materials for the fifth consecutive year because of its large foundry and advanced packaging base. Semiconductor and packaging materials sold to Taiwan totaled $9.8 billion in 2014, up 8% from $8.91 billion in 2013, according to SEMI.
Japan was the second biggest consumer of semiconductor materials with $7.19 billion of materials purchases, about the same as 2013.
The semiconductor fabrication and packaging materials market in North America had the second largest increase at 5% followed by China, South Korea and Europe. The North America semiconductor and packaging materials market increased to $4.98 billion, compared to $4.76 billion in 2014, SEMI says. The Chinese market grew 3%; South Korea, 2% and Europe, 1%, according to SEMI.
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