The 2018 equipment market rankings for Japan, North America, Europe, and Rest of World remained unchanged from 2017.
For the second consecutive year, Korea claimed the largest market for new semiconductor equipment with $17.71 billion in sales, followed by China, rising to become the second largest equipment market for the first time with sales of $13.11 billion.
Taiwan fell from second in 2017 to the third position with sales of $10.17 billion.
Annual spending rates increased for China, Japan, Rest of World (primarily Southeast Asia), Europe, and North America. However, new equipment markets in Taiwan and South Korea contracted.
The 2018 equipment market rankings for Japan, North America, Europe, and Rest of World remained unchanged from 2017.
Sales for the global wafer processing equipment market segment rose 15 per cent while other front-end segment sales jumped 9 per cent. Test equipment sales increased by 20 per cent as assembly and packaging sales increased by 2 per cent.
How did the regions fair?
The annual billings data by region in billions of U.S. dollars with year-over-year rates by region are as follows:
| Region | 2018 | 2017 | % Change |
| South Korea | 17.71 | 17.95 | -1% |
| China | 13.11 | 8.23 | 59% |
| Taiwan | 10.17 | 11.49 | -12 |
| Japan | 9.47 | 6.49 | 46% |
| North America | 5.83 | 5.59 | 4% |
| Europe | 4.22 | 3.67 | 15% |
| Rest of World | 4.04 | 3.20 | 26% |
| Total | 64.53 | 56.62 | 14% |
Source: SEMI and SEAJ, April 2019
