Smartphone shipments have been dropping over the past few years, as shown in Chart 1, as a result of several factors, but primarily the slowdown in smartphone innovation while at the same time prices have kept increasing. Even with the much anticipated 5G in 2020, unimpressive speed gains coupled with a Covid-19 backdrop, smartphones… Read More
Author: Robert Castellano
Apple’s Priority On Improved OLED Encapsulation For Foldable Smartphones Will Impact Applied Materials
Applied Materials Will Regain Semiconductor Equipment Lead From ASML in 2020
On December 2, 2019, I posted a SemiWiki article entitled “ASML Will Take Semiconductor Equipment Lead from Applied Materials in 2019.”Since losing its dominance for the first time since 1990 in 2019, Applied Materials is poised to lose its retake the 2020 lead in the semiconductor equipment market. ASML led the… Read More
Apple Is Evaluating Scratch Resistant Diamond Like Coatings On Gorilla Glass
Despite the improvements in glass material used in smartphone displays, many, if not all, leading smartphone manufactures such as Apple and other smartphone manufacturers are evaluating a coating method that further increases the durability of screens at a cost of just pennies per display by coating them with diamonds.… Read More
SMIC China Sanctions – Headwinds For Applied Materials And Lam Research
On September 26 there were media reports that the U.S. Commerce Department has added China’s largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) , to its entity list, after it determined there an “unacceptable risk” that equipment SMIC received could be used for military purposes
U.S. firms would… Read More
Why I’m Lowering Semiconductor Equipment Revenue Growth to -6.9% in 2020
Because of significant $4 billion in equipment pull-ins in Q4 from sales in Asia, I was reducing my semiconductor wafer front-end (WFE) equipment revenue growth from an earlier +5% to 0% in 2020. Now, based on CORVID-19, I am further reducing revenue growth to -6.9%.
Chart 1 also shows the cyclical nature of semiconductors and semiconductor… Read More
KLA Blows Away Competition in the Semiconductor Metrology/Inspection Market
KLA saw its share of the semiconductor metrology/inspection market increase from 52% in 2018 to 56% in 2019.
As a background, KLA manufactures and sells equipment used to monitor many of the 400 to 600 processing steps in the manufacturing of semiconductors, starting with a bare wafer, such as silicon, to a completed device. The… Read More
ASML Will Take Semiconductor Equipment Lead from Applied Materials in 2019
For the first time since 1990, Applied Materials is poised to lose its lead in the semiconductor equipment market, according to my recently published report “The Global Semiconductor Equipment: Markets, Market Shares, Market Forecasts.”
Applied Materials, which has been losing market share in the wafer front end (WFE) equipment… Read More
Shipments of 5G Smartphones Will Surge to 900 Million Units in 2024
5G smartphones will increase from just 13 million units in 2019 to 900 million in 2024, as previous 2G/3G/4G smartphones shipments will decline slightly over the 2019-2024 period, reaching parity with 5G smartphones in 3Q 2023, as shown in the chart below.
According to The Information Network’s report “Hot ICs: … Read More
Comparing Applied Materials with Lam Research
Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) will announce its quarterly earnings on October 23, 2019, and Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) the following month on November 14, 2019. Both companies make equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices. While private and institutional investors often own both individual stocks, this article… Read More
The Nanometrics – Rudolph Technology Merger: What Was Nanometrics Thinking?
On June 24, 2019, Nanometrics and Rudolph Technology announced they will combine in an all-stock merger of equals transaction. The companies say the combination increases the SAM (served available market) opportunity to approximately $3B.
This article attempts to analyze the two companies in their different business segments,… Read More
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What to expect at the 58th DAC this December