The global market for integrated-circuit packaging materials is expected to continue on its growth trajectory based on solid demand for mobile devices, international industry association SEMI said yesterday.
In a research report, SEMI said the IC packaging material market is expected to keep growing from the estimated US$19.3 billion last year to as much as US$21 billion by 2017.
SEMI divided the IC packaging material market into a wide range of segments, such as organic substrates, lead frames, bonding wires, mold components and thermal interface materials.
It said the organic substrates segment remains the largest in the global IC packaging market, though it has faced continued downward pressure in pricing.
The segment was predicted to rise to more than US$8.7 billion by 2017 from an estimate of US$7.4 billion last year.
SEMI said that many other packaging material segments are also facing slowing sales growth as end users seek lower-cost solutions for packaging.
Downward pricing pressure is severe, it added.
The industry has, however, offset pricing concerns with a transition to copper and silver bonding wires, in the face of rising prices for gold in wire bond packages, it said.
Explosive growth in mobile computing and communications devices, such as smartphones and tablets, was identified as the driving force behind continued growth in several segments of the IC packaging materials market.
Segments buoyed by mobile devices are chip scale packages with laminate substrates and wafer level packages.
SEMI is a global association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro and nano-electronics industries, including semiconductors, photovoltaics, high-brightness LED and flat panels.
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