Applied Materials still top IC gear supplier

Applied Materials retained the top spot, with Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASML again in second and third spots respectively. This is the sixth consecutive year that all three leading suppliers retained their positions, according to the market researchfirm.

Growth spurt
VLSI Research said the leading ten managed to grow faster than the overall IC manufacturing gear sector, which is estimated to have increased by 8 percent in 2007 to reach $57.5 billion.

The revenue figures include sales of equipment used to make ICs, thin-film heads, MEMs, as well as service, support and refurbished systems.

There were some changes in the middle rankings with Nikon overtaking Advantest for sixth position on increased sales coupled to a decline in revenues at Advantest. Another Japanese supplier, Canon dropped out of the Top 10 rankings for the first time in many years, falling one position to eleventh even though revenues increased slightly to $1.309 billion in 2007, compared to $1.287 in 2006.

The biggest mover was Hitachi High-Technologies, which climbed from eleventh position in 2006 to reach ninth in 2007.

Regional basis
The two European companies that made it into VLSI Research's Top 15, ASML and ASM International together accounted for 16 percent of total revenues, an increase of 1 percent over the previous year. The major U.S. based equipment suppliers accounted for 47 percent of the combined group revenues, also one percentage point gain over 2006. Japanese suppliers suffered during 2007, with their 37 percent of total revenues representing a decline of 2 percent over the previous year.

In real terms, 2007 sales were: Applied Materials, $8.52 billion; Tokyo Electron Ltd, $6.29 billion; ASML, $5.145 billion; KLA-Tencor, $2.78 billion; Lam Research Corp, $2.62 billion; Nikon Corp., $2.15 billion; Advantest, $1.66 billion; Novellus Systems, $1.55 billion; Hitachi High-Technologies Corp, $1.445 billion; and Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co. Ltd, $1.33 billion.

The remaining five companies are, in order of revenues, Canon Inc, ASM International NV, Varian Semiconductor Equipment; Teradyne, and Verigy Inc.