$44.3 Billion semiconductor materials market in 2014 and is growing

Whether semiconductor chip production grows or not in terms of sales revenue, but by volume the chip production is always rising. All the way from 65 nm to 20 nm, chip production was near full capacity in leading fabs in year 2014. The global semiconductor materials market increased 3 percent in 2014 compared to 2013 while worldwide semiconductor revenues increased 10 percent. Revenues of $44.3 billion mark the first increase in the semiconductor materials market since 2011, as per SEMI. Taiwan continues to be the hot place with nearly 1/5th of fab capacity, though China picks up hugely in chip manufacturing. TSMC is far bigger chip manufacturer compared to its nearest competitor. TSMC has all of its fabs in Taiwan. Chip fabs consume large amount of expensive and special material, in most cases whose manufacturing process is well-guarded intellectual property secret and patented by their suppliers. U.S.-based semiconductor equipment industry body SEMI has reported "The total wafer fabrication materials and packaging materials were $24.0 billion and $20.4 billion, respectively. Comparable revenues for these segments in 2013 were $22.7 billion for wafer fabrication materials and $20.4 billion for packaging materials. The wafer fabrication materials segment increased 6 percent year-over-year, while the packaging materials segment remained flat. However, if bonding ...