Semiconductor Equipment Companies 'Top 5' Saw Total Sales Decline Last Year... Growth Expected This Year

Counterpoint Research Survey
'Top 5' Semiconductor Equipment Companies' Sales Reach 126 Trillion Won
1% Decrease Compared to Previous Year
ASML Rises to 1st Place with Strong Equipment Sales

The sales of the top 5 semiconductor equipment manufacturers slightly decreased last year due to the weakness in the memory semiconductor market.

ASML [Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

According to market research firm Counterpoint Research on the 9th, the total sales of the semiconductor equipment companies identified as the 'Top 5' amounted to $93.5 billion (approximately 126 trillion KRW), down 1% from the previous year.

In the first half of last year, equipment manufacturers' sales sharply declined due to inventory adjustments and the downturn in memory. However, it is interpreted that the overall annual sales only slightly decreased thanks to the normalization of DRAM inventory and increased demand in the second half.

ASML and Applied Materials grew by 35% and 2% respectively compared to the previous year, but Lam Research (-25%), Tokyo Electron (-22%), and KLA (-8%) saw their sales decline year-on-year. In particular, ASML ranked first globally, supported by strong sales of deep ultraviolet (DUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) equipment.

Last year, foundry segment sales increased by 16% year-on-year due to the rise of Gate All Around (GAA) transistor architecture and strengthened investments in 'Mature Node' devices across various sectors including Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, automotive, and 5G.

Sales in the memory segment decreased by 25% year-on-year due to overall weak memory wafer fab equipment spending, especially the downturn in NAND. However, the decline was offset by the strength of DRAM in the second half.

Shipments to China increased by 31% year-on-year due to China’s semiconductor self-sufficiency system establishment, increased DRAM shipments, and investments in DRAM demand and mature process growth. This accounted for about one-third of the total system semiconductor sales last year.

Counterpoint Research forecasted, "This year, growth in the semiconductor equipment market will be driven by strengthening GAA technology, increased spending in AI, automotive, and IoT sectors, new fab operations, DRAM technology node transitions to support high bandwidth memory (HBM), and improvements in NAND spending."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.