Gartner: Semiconductor equipment spending will fall 46% in 2009
Chip companies forecast to boost spending nearly 21% in 2010.
By Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 6/15/2009 4:05:00 PM
According to a revised quarterly forecast from research Gartner, declining spending on capital equipment by semiconductor companies has hit bottom and will resume growing again on a quarterly basis.
Semiconductor capital equipment spending was $3.5 billion in the first quarter and will grow sequentially for the rest of the year. By the fourth quarter equipment capital spending by semiconductor companies will increase to $4.9 billion. For the year equipment capital spending will total $16.6 billion which will be down nearly 46% from 2008.
Worldwide wafer fab equipment spending is expected to decrease 47.1% in 2009. The packaging and assembly equipment (PAE) market will fall nearly 47% in 2009 and the worldwide automated test equipment (ATE) market is forecast to decline 32%, according to Gartner. However, in 2010 capital equipment spending will increase 29% to $21.4 billion.
“The impact of the economic crisis has hit the semiconductor equipment industry hard, but signs of life are returning,” says Klaus Rinnen, managing vice president at Gartner. “It will be a long, slow road to complete recovery, but we are seeing the first indications of increased foundry activity to replenish inventories depleted by the cutbacks of the past few quarters,” he says.
Last week, Purchasing.com reported that capital spending by semiconductor companies will decline 40% in 2009, according to market researcher IC Insights.
In its last quarterly forecast, Gartner said 2009 spending would fall by similar levels.
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