Reduced CapEx for Test
As a percentage of total spending on semiconductor capital equipment, spending on test equipment has trended below 20% of total equipment spending since the 2000 peak year of semiconductor industry equipment spending.
Dan Tracy, Senior Director, and Lara Chamness, Senior Market Analyst, Industry Research and Statistics Group, SEMI, San Jose -- Semiconductor International, 7/11/2008
As a percentage of total spending on semiconductor capital equipment, spending on test equipment has trended below 20% of total equipment spending since the 2000 peak year of semiconductor industry equipment spending. The test equipment figures capture spending on automated test equipment (ATE), probers, handlers and other test-related equipment, which all added up to a $5.1B market in 2007. Since 2003, the test equipment market has been contracting in both absolute spending and as a percentage of the total market.
A number of factors likely contribute to the trend of declining “capital intensity” in test. New test equipment (ATE) is capable of higher multi-site testing, thus reducing the need for more tools. Device makers and their outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) partners have been more restrained in their capital expenditures over the past several years. Also, most new devices can be tested on ATE platforms already available on the market, which gives the OSAT providers more flexibility in managing capacity and test utilization.
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| Source: SEMI/SEAJ |
First-quarter data showed that new orders for test equipment have stabilized with respect to the previous two quarters. First-quarter billings totaled $1.2M globally, with $557M for system-on-a-chip (SoC)/logic testers, $246M for memory testers, $185M for probe equipment, $150M for test handlers, and $61M for other test-related equipment. Spending on memory testers was particularly hard hit in 1Q08, declining 55% from 1Q07 spending levels.
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| Source: SEMI/SEAJ |
More information can be found in SEMI’s monthly Worldwide Semiconductor Equipment Market Statitics (WWSEMS) data program and the monthly Equipment Market Data Subscription.
