Even before the current COVID-19 crisis, the global semiconductor materials market was flat at best, according to global industry association SEMI, in a report in its Materials Market Data Subscription (MMDS).
The report noted that while worldwide total wafer fabrication materials decreased 0.4% from $33.0 billion to $32.8 billion, wafer fab materials, process chemicals, sputtering targets, and CMP all declined more than 2% year-over-year (YoY). Packaging materials slipped 2.3%, from $19.7 billion to $19.2 billion, in 2019. The only two categories to notch increases last year were substrate and other packaging materials.
According to SEMI, Taiwan, at $11.3 billion, was the largest consumer of semiconductor materials on the strength of its large foundry and advanced packaging base. Korea remained in the second spot, while China, the only materials market to register an increase in 2019, was third.
North America including the U.S., saw a slight decline from $5.73 to $5.62 billion. All other regions saw flat revenue or low single-digit declines.