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SEMI has painted an uncharacteristically gloomy picture of semiconductor equipment sales in 2008 and 2009 that slightly exceeds projections from independent market research firms such as Gartner Dataquest and VLSI Research. SEMI has projected sales to reach $30.91 billion in 2008, a decline of almost 28%, compared to 2007. The trade association is also projecting a further decline in equipment sales of 21% for 2009.

Wafer processing equipment sales are expected to decline by about 28 percent in 2008 to $22.95 billion.  Assembly and packaging equipment will decline by almost 24 percent to $2.16 billion in 2008, according to SEMI. Test equipment sales are expected to decline by about 27 percent to $3.69 billion this year.

"Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales have declined to levels last seen in 2003 and we anticipate a second year of double-digit decline in 2009," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "Impaired or nonexistent business trend visibility is pervasive amidst the deteriorating global economy. Therefore our outlook for 2010 is based on patterns of previous industry recoveries."

On a regional basis, the Japanese market is projected to decline by about 20 percent, but it will surpass Taiwan to become the leading region for sales of new equipment.

South Korea is expected to decline by about 28 percent in 2008, and sales of new equipment in China will decline by 35 percent, while the Rest-of-World market regions will decline by about 10 percent.