Korea Mechanical Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd., Semiconductor Equipment Industry to Grow 9% Annually
Maintaining stability thanks to government efforts to strengthen competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises The global semiconductor equipment market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9% through 2025, driven by the growth of the consumer electronics market and expansion of foundries.
▲ The global semiconductor equipment market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 9% until 2025. According to the 'Machine Industry 2019 Performance and 2020 Outlook' published by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials on February 13, the semiconductor equipment and machine tool sectors are expected to remain stable due to the government's policy to strengthen the competitiveness of materials, parts, and equipment and the fostering of future sectors such as industrial robots and smart factories.
The semiconductor equipment sector is expected to grow year-on-year as the upstream industry continues to show an upward trend as the semiconductor market gradually recovers. Experts suggest that as the introduction of new technologies in the semiconductor equipment market increases and the demand for new equipment grows, measures should be sought to respond to changes in the memory market.
▲ Trends and outlook for domestic machinery industry production and imports and exports <Data = Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials> The machine tool sector showed a decrease of about 20% in both domestic sales and exports in 2019. All industries showed decreases, including the automobile sector, which showed an 8.4% decrease compared to the same period last year. However, considering the base effect, it is expected to show growth in 2020 compared to last year.
Park Joo-hyung, head of the Research Strategy Office at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, said, “In order to achieve mid- to long-term export growth in the machinery industry, it is important to foster forward industries that reflect the government’s will to improve the competitiveness of the materials, parts, and equipment industries,” adding, “We must make efforts to develop technologies for key strategic items and diversify the global supply chain.”
Meanwhile, the Korean machinery industry is expected to rebound slightly in 2020, driven by the recovery of the European manufacturing industry and the expansion of base investment in emerging countries. However, the positive effects are expected to be limited due to global uncertainties such as the US-China trade dispute, the novel coronavirus, and Japan’s export restrictions.
