News Article
Less fish but bigger pond
Biggest semiconductor equipment vendors getting bigger with Applied Materials-Varian deal
The Applied Materials acquisition of Varian Semiconductor strengthens its dominance of the semiconductor equipment market, as top 10 vendors dominate, according to the report Applied Materials: Competing for World Dominance, recently published by The Information Network, a New Tripoli, PA-based market research company.
According to the chart below, Applied Materials was ranked number 1 in the semiconductor wafer front-end equipment industry and Varian Semiconductor was ranked number 8. The acquisition of Varian Semiconductor will solidify Applied’s lead and at the same time enable Applied to re-enter the Ion Implantation business, a market it withdrew from in 2008.
“Most interestingly for 2010 is the fact that the growth of the top 10 wafer front-end equipment manufacturers increased a full 20% greater than the combined total of all the other equipment suppliers,” noted Dr. Robert Castellano, President of The Information Network. “What’s more, while the top 10 equipment companies generated 42% of total wafer front-end equipment sales in 2009, their share grew to 45% in 2010.”
