|
Capital equipment
sales into front-end fabs, is expected to grow by 6.9 percent in 2006, reaching
sales of $25.8 billion US dollars, according to market research firm VLSI
Research. The research firm pegged wafer fab sales in 2005 at $24.1 billion
dollars.
A less optimistic view
of sales growth in front-end equipment sales was provided by Gartner in
December 2005, projecting only a 3.3 percent growth figure for 2006.
Total equipment sales
including test and assembly will rise 6 percent this year to reach $54.2
billion US dollars.
Growth is being
attributed to tight capacity and high utilisation rates that VLSI Research projects
to average 90.3 percent in 2006, up from 88.9 percent in 2005. IC production
will also expand by 4.7 percent in 2006.
Overall, IC revenues will
see good but rather moderate growth of 8.2 percent in 2006, reaching $208.0
billion US dollars compared to $192.2 billion in 2005. Growth projections were
tempered by the fact that IC ASP's will see a slight decline of 0.6 percent in
the year, according to the research firm.
VLSI Research also cautioned
that due to consumers being responsible for 50 percent of IC content purchases
the US economic factors such as tight consumer credit and overall monetary
policy could impact sales, should conditions undermine consumer confidence.
However, the research
firm believes that short-term indicators are pointing to a good year for the
industry overall.
Related stories;
Gartner sees capital equipment spending on
rise through 2008
No quarterly peak in capex expected in 2006
|
News 
