Temperatures are cooling off, but the path is still clear

Andrea Lati

• Order activity for semiconductor equipment continued to trend down, slipping to 89 degrees
• The rate of decline has moderated in the last two weeks following a steep drop in June
• The sentiment at SEMICON West was positive
• Equipment manufacturers continue to see a strong demand environment
• Although the macro headwinds are a concern for 2023, they’re not having any impact on the equipment market so far
• The biggest challenge for equipment suppliers remains the supply chain constraints
• While these constraints are not getting worse, they’re not improving fast enough to drive the big growth that we were expecting in 2H22 to hit our forecast of 18%
• As a result, we are lowering the equipment forecast to 13% for 2022
• The deferred revenues of 2022 will roll into next year, boosting semiconductor equipment growth by nearly 4 points to +5%.
• TechInsights’ Chip Price Performance Index tumbled
  • DRAM plunged
  • NAND plunged
  • MPUs fell
• Utilization rates remain high