Chemicals and materials market 5th year of growth
Strong demand for semiconductors is keeping the chemical and material market in high gear, according to the report 'Chemicals And Materials For Sub-100nm IC Manufacturing,' recently published by The Information Network.
Strong demand for semiconductors is keeping the chemical and material market in high gear, according to the report "Chemicals And Materials For Sub-100nm IC Manufacturing," recently published by The Information Network.
The worldwide market for chemicals and materials for semiconductor manufacturing grew 6.1% in 2005 and is projected to grow another 6.8% in 2006.
"For nearly 10 years the chemicals and materials market has underperformed the semiconductor market," notes Dr. Robert N. Castellano, President of The Information Network. "Two factors dominate: First, the efforts by semiconductor manufacturers to utilize chemicals more efficiently and second the semiconductor manufacturers are purchasing chemicals at lower prices. The trend parallels the growth in chemicals management services (CMS), whose tenet is to purchase materials more effectively and at a lower cost than semiconductor companies can do by themselves."
The clear winner in the market is the silicon wafer sector, growing 8.9% in revenues in 2006. Higher pricing, increased volume demand across all diameters, and a rash of 300mm fabs coming onstream are responsible. The loser in the materials market will be bulk gases, growing only 0.9% in 2006.
