Semiconductor materials expected to<br>reach record revenues in 2007

This growth is being driven by the record amount of semiconductor devices being manufactured and advanced materials consumed in fabricating and packaging those devices. Growth in 2007 is expected for both the wafer fabrication materials and packaging sectors. Current estimates predict that the fab materials market will grow about 9% to reach $24.0B, and the packaging materials market will grow over 13% to reach $16.6B this year. On a regional basis, both Japan and Taiwan are anticipated to remain the two largest material-consuming regions followed by the South Korean and Southeast Asian regions. The materials market in China grew 36% last year as the result of capacity coming online from renewed fab and assembly facility investments and it is expected that wafer fabrication materials will represent a larger portion of materials consumed in this region in the near future. “Semiconductor unit growth, the 300 mm ramp, and the transition to flip chip packages are driving the revenue growth in the semiconductor materials market," said Dan Tracy, senior director of Industry Research and Statistics of SEMI. "However, higher raw material costs represent a major challenge for both material suppliers and their customers."