TECHCET—the electronic materials advisory services firm providing business and technology information— announced that global revenues for semiconductor manufacturing and packaging materials are expected to grow 5.7% year-over-year (YoY) in 2020 to US$49.5B, of which 65% represents semiconductor fab materials. The memory chip downturn in 2019 reduced total materials market revenues by 2.8% to US$46.8B in 2019, while the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2023 is forecast at 3.5% as detailed in the latest TECHCET Critical Materials Reports (CMR) and shown in the below figure.
“TECHCET sees the memory sub-market returning to growth in 2020, after the downturn that reduced semiconductor silicon wafer starts by more than 5% in 2019,” said Lita Shon-Roy, TECHCET President and CEO. “The production of semiconductor chips for modern communications, energy, healthcare, and transportation benefits the entire world, so we see steady growth in demand for semiconductor materials moving forward.”
At the 2020 Critical Materials Council (CMC) Seminar—held last October in Taoyuan, Taiwan—representatives of 14 global chip-makers including GlobalFoundries, Intel, Micron, Samsung, and TSMC discussed ways to ensure electronic materials supply- chain robustness in an era of short-sighted protectionist tariffs.
The public 2020 CMC Conference—happening April 23-24, 2020 in Hillsboro, Oregon— will follow private CMC meetings hosted by Intel that week. The keynote address on, “Critical Materials Pushing the Limits for Semiconductor Manufacturing,” will be provided by Bruce Tufts, Vice President of Technology and Director of Fab Materials Organization, Intel. A new 4th Session on advanced packaging will highlight materials for chiplets in system-in-package (SiP) devices.