NEWS RELEASE                                                                                         May 2018

Top Five Semiconductor Manufacturers Purchase 40 Percent of the Combust, Flow and Treat Products

The semiconductor industry is a large and growing market for combust, flow and treat (CFT) products. In 2019 the industry will spend $15.4 billion for these products. The top five purchasers will account for 40 percent of the total.

Four of the top five purchasers are integrated suppliers with both chip fabrication and proprietary designs. TSMC is not an integrated supplier but has a 56 percent share of the independent foundry market.

The processes used by these manufacturers include ultrapure water to wash chips, acids to etch them, cleanrooms with sophisticated HVAC systems to prevent particulate damage, wastewater treatment and air pollution control. There are many individual steps as a chip moves from tool to tool.

The top 100 purchasers represent over 80 percent of the market. These companies are centralizing decision making and purchasing. They are also remotely monitoring operations and utilizing total cost of ownership evaluations to make decisions.

Consolidation is continuing and it is likely that the top 100 purchasers will account for 90 percent of the market within a decade. These purchasers have plants throughout the world. Therefore market research based on the market size in China or the U.S. is not nearly as relevant as the market size for each of the top 100 purchasers.

Semiconductor Purchases - $ millions – 2019 - World
Company

Total

 

Intel Samsung TSMC SK Hynix Micron

Cleanroom

Hardware

5500 935 715 605 330 275

Cleanroom

Consumables

2800 476 364 308 168 140
Ultrapure Water Systems 900 153 117 99 54 45

Scrubbers,

Oxidizers

240 41 31 26 14 12
Pumps 240 41 31 26 14 12
Valves 400 68 52 44 24 20
Cartridges 475 81 62 52 29 24

Other Filters,

Separators

380 65 49 42 23 19

Cross Flow

Membranes

250 43 33 28 15 13
Fans, Compressors 290 49 38 32 17 15
Treatment Chemicals 420 71 55 46 25 21
Guide 700 119 91 77 42 35
Control 600 102 78 66 36 30

Measure-

Liquids

140 24 18 15 8 7

Measure-

Gases

70 12 9 8 4 4

Measure –

Powders

40 7 5 4 2 2
Other 2,000 340 260 220 120 100
Total 15445 2627 2008 1698 925 774

The challenges to improve performance increase as line size decreases. Chips with 7nm line sizes are now in production and 5nm production is slated for 2020. This progression needs to be accompanied by similar advancement of CFT products. This means that suppliers must understand the processes generally but also the unique variations applied by individual purchasers.

This focus on individual purchasers and their unique processes dictates collaboration among disparate supplier divisions. ABB makes cleanroom robots as well as a range of guide, control and measurement products. Danaher has acquired Pall and Chemtreat to supplement its Hach operations and now can supply a range of filters, treatment chemicals and measurement equipment.

Company

Total

 

Danaher Eaton Emerson ITW ABB Crane IDEX CECO

Cleanroom

Hardware

5500       x xx      

Cleanroom

Consumables

2800       xxx        
Ultrapure Water Systems 900 xxx              

Scrubbers,

Oxidizers

240               xx
Pumps 240   x x     xx xx x
Valves 400   x xxx   x xx xx  
Cartridges 475 xx xx   x       x

Other Filters,

Separators

380 xx xxx   x       x

Cross Flow

Membranes

250 xxx xx            
Fans, Compressors 290             x  
Treatment Chemicals 420 xx              
Guide 700 x 0 xxx 0 xxx 0 0 xxx 0 0 0 0
Control 600 x xxx xxx   xxx x x  

Measure-

Liquids

140 xxx   xxx x xx   x  

Measure-

Gases

70 xxx   xxx x xx      

Measure –

Powders

40 xx   xxx x xx      
Other 2,000 x x x xxx xxx   x  

x= some market share, xx= significant market share, xxx= market leader, 0 = Edge computer package opportunity

Danaher can use its strong position in cross flow membranes and measurement to increase penetration for its other products. The right treatment chemical in an accurately measured amount is necessary to keep the cross-flow membrane clean. Danaher how has all the products to provide the operational synergy to maximize membrane performance.

Emerson purchased Tyco Valves from Pentair. This expands its synergy between valves, controls and instrumentation.

Now with low cost sensors, wireless technology and capable partners, CFT suppliers can add remote monitoring and edge computer packages to their offerings and substantially increase revenues.

Multi product suppliers would be well served to determine the opportunity at each of the top semiconductor purchasers and then devise a strategy to encourage collaboration among divisions to pursue each. This represents a sea change in the route to market caused by international consolidation, IIoT and the Industrial Internet of Wisdom (IIoW) to empower IIoT.

The opportunity for controls and instrumentation for each large purchaser is included in N031 Industrial IOT and Remote O&M.

The potential for purchases of specific products such as valves, pumps, scrubbers, filters, etc. by each large semiconductor purchaser as well as purchasers in other industries is included in the individual market reports shown at http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets.

A step by step program to pursue large purchasers one at a time is outlined at www.mcilvainecompany.com

For more information contact Bob Mcilvaine at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 847-784-0012 ext. 112