Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Assembly and Test Services Revenue Increased 7.4 Percent in 2007

STAMFORD, Conn., March 12, 2008 —

The worldwide market for semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) grew for the sixth consecutive year in 2007, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. Worldwide SATS revenue was up 7.4 percent at $20.6 billion. For the sixth year in succession, the SATS market continued to outpace the overall semiconductor market by more than 50 percent (overall semiconductor revenue grew 2.9 percent in 2007).

Packaging, assembly and test services have become important in the total semiconductor industry because a growing percentage of the total industry revenue is now attributed to this segment. The outsourcing portion of this back-end manufacturing process, known as SATS, has grown steadily since the recession of 2001.

"Integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) and OEMs continue to expand their adoption of the outsourcing business model," said Jim Walker, research vice president for Gartner. "Their resources are now more focused on design and distribution and less on manufacturing. The result is increased demand for outsourcing. This demand, combined with the increasing transition to advanced packaging technologies, propels the SATS industry."

The top five vendors maintained their rankings in 2007, but their total revenue grew by 4.4 percent compared with 10.4 percent growth by the rest of the industry (see Table 1). Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, of Taiwan, remained the leading provider of assembly and test services with revenue exceeding $3 billion. Amkor Technology, of Arizona, stayed at No. 2. Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL), of Taiwan, was the No. 3 vendor, as it increased its lead over Singapore's STATS ChipPAC. The highest growth among the top five was achieved by UTAC, of Singapore, with 18.5 percent growth taking its revenue to over $750 million. This was due to growth in testing, memory and leadless-lead-frame packaging.

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide SATS Companies' Revenue Estimates for 2007 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

2007 Rank	2006 Rank	Company	2007 Revenue	2007 Market Share (%)	2006 Revenue	2006 Market Share (%)	2006-2007 Growth (%)
1	1	ASE Group	3,080	15.0	3,026	15.8	1.8
2	2	Amkor Technology	2,739	13.3	2,728	14.2	0.4
3	3	SPIL	1,967	9.5	1,728	9.0	13.8
4	4	STATS ChipPAC	1,631	7.9	1,617	8.4	0.9
5	5	UTAC	756	3.7	638	3.3	18.5
		Others	10,427	50.6	9,444	49.2	10.4
		Total Market	20,600	100.0	19,181	100.0	7.4

Source: Gartner (February 2008)

For 2008, Gartner forecasts another year of growth for the SATS industry with initial estimates for 9.8 percent over 2007.

Additional information is available in the Gartner report "Preliminary SATS Market Share, Worldwide, 2007." This report provides preliminary results for the top 10 vendors in the SATS industry. The report is available on Gartner's Web site: http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=611208&subref=simplesearch.

Gartner will publish a final 2007 market share report with in-depth analysis and individual revenue figures from more than 80 companies. This report is scheduled for the second quarter of 2008.

This research is produced by Gartner's Semiconductor Manufacturing and Design program. This program, which is part of the overall semiconductor research group, provides a comprehensive view of the entire semiconductor industry's design, manufacturing, and device and application market trends. More information on Gartner's semiconductor research can be found at http://www.gartner.com/it/products/research/asset_129175_2395.jsp.

 

Contact:


Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com


About Gartner:
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