KUALA LUMPUR (April 11): Global sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment jumped 14% year-on-year in 2018 to an all-time high of $64.5 billion from $56.62 billion in 2017, according to the US-based Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI).

In a statement on its website April 10, SEMI said data is now available in the Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics (WWSEMS) Report.   

SEMI said that for the second consecutive year, Korea claimed the largest market for new semiconductor equipment with US$17.71 billion in sales, followed by China, rising to become the second largest equipment market for the first time with sales of US$13.11 billion and displacing Taiwan, which fell to the third position with sales of US$10.17 billion.

It said annual spending rates increased for China, Japan, Rest of World (primarily Southeast Asia), Europe, and North America.

“However, new equipment markets in Taiwan and South Korea contracted.

“The 2018 equipment market rankings for Japan, North America, Europe, and Rest of World remained unchanged from 2017,” it said.

SEMI said sales for the global wafer processing equipment market segment rose 15% while other front-end segment sales jumped 9%.

It said total test equipment sales increased 20% as assembly and packaging sales increased 2%.