News Article
Semiconductor photomask market to slow in 2006
After posting two consecutive years of strong growth, the semiconductor photomask market will slow in 2006, according to the report: Mask Making, Inspection, and Repair: Market Analysis and Strategic Issues, recently published by The Information Network
After recording strong gains of 18.7% in 2004 and 9.7% in 2005, the market is expected to grow only 4.3% in 2006, reaching sales of $3.2 billion."While the semiconductor market is anticipated to grow strongly in 2006, demand for photomasks is directly a function of design activity rather than sales volume from products using photomasks. Therefore, an increase in the semiconductor market does not necessarily translate to an increase in photomask sales," said Dr. Robert Castellano, President of The Information Network.For 2006, more than 50% of the largest CapEx spenders are directed at memory production expansions, and first and second tier memory vendors are aggressively expanding capacity in 2006. These changes in the mix of semiconductors towards memory will affect the type and quantity of photomasks utilised. Since DRAM masks are used for a relatively large number of wafers, we project a reduction in the amount of photomasks manufactured in 2006. In 2005, Toppan led the worldwide merchant market with a 38.7% share following its acquisition of Dupont Photomask. DNP followed with a 32.0% share.The Japanese market grew 21.0% on a revenue basis in 2005 to nearly 45% of the worldwide market, while North America remained flat at $327 million. European production of photomasks grew at a moderate 3.9%.
