March 1, 2002 – San Jose, CA – Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) reported that worldwide sales of semiconductor equipment totaled $28 billion in 2001, representing a year-over-year decline of 41%.
Compiled from data submitted by members of SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ), the Worldwide SEMS Report is a summary of the monthly billings and bookings figures for the global semiconductor equipment industry. The report, which includes data for six major semiconductor producing regions and 21 product categories, shows worldwide billings totaled $28.1 billion in 2001, compared with $47.7 billion posted in 2000.
“The industry suffered its worst annual decline last year as end electronics markets and capital spending collapsed. The magnitude of the downturn was amplified in that it followed the single greatest growth year on record in our industry,” said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. “The good news is the apparent bottoming of the cycle as order trends have leveled and show slight improvement in the fourth quarter. The first quarter of 2002 should give an indication of how the year will fare, as historically there is a close correlation between Q1 growth momentum and overall annual growth.”
While every regional market declined in 2001, Japan fared better than other regions, with billings declining 17 percent in 2001 to $7.6 billion, compared with $9.2 billion in 2000.
North America, which remained the largest market for semiconductor equipment, dropped 37 percent to $8.2 billion, down from $12.9 billion posted the prior year.
Europe followed in third place, declining 40 percent to $3.8 billion, compared to $8.4 billion in 2000.
Taiwan, the second-largest market in 2000 with sales of $9.3 billion, dropped 65 percent to $3.2 billion.
The Rest of World region (primarily Singapore, Malaysia, China and other Southeast Asia countries), which had been the fastest-growing region in 2000 with $5.9 billion in sales, declined 48 percent in 2001 to $3.1 billion.
Korea dropped 44 percent to $2.2 billion from the $3.9 billion in sales posted in 2000.