Semiconductor capital spending fell by 16.7% in 2012

International research and consulting firm Gartner announced the latest outlook report for the semiconductor equipment market. Due to the global economic sluggish economy, leading to excess inventory and terminal demand for electronic products, semiconductor capital expenditures have dropped significantly. In 2012, global semiconductor capital expenditure is expected to be 515.339 billion U.S. dollars, a 16.7% decline from the 61.831 billion U.S. dollars in 2011.

The report also pointed out that after mid-2012, demand will only see a rebound, and the next wave of growth is expected to occur in 2013, when capital expenditures will increase by 18.4%. In 2014, it will rewrite a record high.

Due to overcapacity pressure in global semiconductor plants, Klaus Rinnen, vice president of Gartner, said that the growth of semiconductor capital expenditures and equipment expenditures appears to be a full slowdown. The wafer foundry continues to compete in the 28-nm production capacity, and at the same time for 45nm to 90nm technologies. Expenditures show a slowing trend, and some of the equipment from previous generations of the process can still be used for 28-nm production to increase capacity utilization. In addition, due to weaker-than-expected growth in mediatablet production, investment in NAND flash memory plants has also seen weakness.

Gartner expects this slowdown in spending to continue from 2011 to the first half of 2012. By the middle of next year, as the PC market recovers and consumers resume consumption due to economic stabilization, supply and demand will tend to balance. Circle foundry and other industries will therefore begin to increase spending to respond to the growth in demand. According to Gartner's estimation, the total semiconductor capital expenditure in 2012 will reach US$51.53 billion, which is a year-on-year decrease of 16.7%. It will grow 18.4% to US$61.26 billion in 2013, and will reach a record high of US$62.132 billion in 2014.

Gartner expects that semiconductor equipment spending will reach US$43.52 billion this year, an increase of 7.1% from the previous year, but it will decline by 19.2% to US$35.16 billion in 2012 and grow by 21.6% to US$427.726 billion in 2013 due to stronger demand for advanced processes. However, it will not be until 2014 that it will record a new high.

In wafer equipment, due to the fact that orders in the second quarter of this year are not as strong as expected, and under the twin pressures of chip sales slowdown and excess inventory deregulation, the second half of 2011 will accelerate decline. Gartner estimates that global wafer equipment spending will grow by 9.4% this year compared to last year, but it will decline by 19.6% next year, while advanced process equipment such as immersion lithography, etching and double exposure will continue to grow, mainly due to semiconductor plant acceleration Turning into 28nm and 20nm, the demand for chips such as analog and discrete components, power management, etc. will also be huge, and it will also drive 8-inch wafer equipment expenses.