SEMI reports that the worldwide semiconductor photomask market was $3.3 billion in 2015 and is forecasted to reach $3.4 billion in 2017. After increasing 3 percent in 2014, the photomask market increased 1 percent in 2015. The mask market is expected to grow 2 and 3 percent in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Key drivers in this market continue to be advanced technology feature sizes (less than 45nm) and increased manufacturing in Asia-Pacific. Taiwan remains the largest photomask regional market for the fifth year in a row and is expected to be the largest market for the duration of the forecast.

Revenues of $3.3 billion place photomasks at 13 percent of the total wafer fabrication materials market, behind silicon and semiconductor gases. By comparison, SEMI reports that photomasks represented 18 percent of the total wafer fabrication materials market in 2003. Another trend highlighted in the report is the increasing importance of captive mask shops. Captive mask shops, aided by intense capital expenditures in 2011 and 2012 and the weakening Yen in recent years, which dampened Japan headquartered supplier’s revenues when reported in US dollars, gained market share at merchant suppliers’ expense. Captive mask suppliers accounted for 56 percent of the total photomask market last year, up from 53 percent in 2014. Captive mask shops represented 31 percent of the photomask market in 2003.

A recent published SEMI report, 2015 Photomask Characterization Summary, provides details on the 2015 Photomask Market for seven regions of world including North America, Japan, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, China, and Rest of World. The report also includes data for each of these regions from 2003 to 2017 and summarizes lithography developments over the past year.