Global semiconductor capital equipment spending totaled $41.95 billion in 2006, a 22.9% increase from 2005, according to Gartner, Inc. as reported by emsnow.com on April 5.
"The 2006 market was marked by a reacceleration of capacity buys and strong memory spending, combined with new equipment for the ramp up of 65-nanometer (nm) processing and first 45 nm purchases," said Klaus Rinnen, managing vice president for Gartner's semiconductor manufacturing research group.
Applied Materials remained the market leader, as its revenue increased 37% in 2006, the third best growth rate among the top-tier vendors.
The wafer fab equipment (WFE) segment grew 25.7% in 2006, while back-end equipment (BEE) showed a 14.1% increase. The packaging and assembly equipment (PAE) segment grew 18.2%, and the automated test equipment (ATE) segment expanded 9.3%.
