European & Japanese Updates, Forex, Metal Prices, North American SEMI Equipment & More

02.22.2010 // Posted by: Walt Custer // Posted in: Articles, Industry Conditions

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US$ Currency Foreign Exchange Update (Chart 1), (Chart 2), (Chart 3), (Chart 4), (Chart 5), (Chart 6), & (Chart 7)

The U.S. dollar has been gradually strengthening against most of the world’s currencies.

Metal Prices Edge Up (Chart 8), (Chart 9), (Chart 10), & (Chart 11)

Compared to just a few weeks ago the price of copper, silver and gold has risen while tin pricing eased.

European End Market Update

European electronic equipment production was flat for the second half of 2009 (Chart 12). Its 3-month (3/12) growth hit a low point in June (Chart 13) and closed 2009 down 15% (4Q’09 vs. 4Q’08). European auto production (Chart 14) dipped following the discontinuance of last summer’s “cash for clunkers” stimulus programs. Industrial instruments (Chart 15) and medical instruments (Chart 16) both remained flat through year-end 2009.

Japan Gets Some Traction

Japanese electronic equipment production (Chart 17) stabilized at year end as its 3-month growth (Chart 18) bottomed in April (-34%) but then “improved” to minus 10% growth in 4Q’09 and minus 2% in December.

World Electronic Equipment Growth in Positive Territory

(Chart 19) has been updated with the latest regional electronic equipment production growth data. Taiwan/China was up 39.4% in January, the USA up 2.4%, Europe down 14.5% and Japan down 10.1% in December - all comparing the most recent 3 months to the same 3 months a year earlier.

Using the growth rates in (Chart 19) and Electronic Outlook Corporations 2008 global electronic equipment production estimate as a base year, (Chart 20) & (Chart 21) have been generated to show historical, monthly regional and total electronic equipment production for 2000 to 2009.

European Electronic “Food Chain” Growth

(Chart 22) details the 12/12 annualized (2009) and 3/12 (4Q’09) growth of the European electronics food chain. The 3/12 “leads” the 12/12.

(Chart 23) (Loaded Electronic Boards) and (Chart 24) (Electronic Wiring Devices mostly Printed Circuit Boards) give insight into European OEM/EMS assembly and PCB production.

Japanese PCB and other Electronic Component Production

(Chart 25), (Chart 26), (Chart 27), (Chart 28), & (Chart 29) have the latest available Japanese PCB and other electronic component production values.

North American January SEMI Equipment orders Rise 24.1% m/m to $1.13 Billion (Chart 30) & (Chart 31)

North American semiconductor equipment makers posted $1.13 billion in 3-month average worldwide bookings in January, up 24.1% from December.

This month’s bookings were more than three times higher than the $277.2 million in orders posted in the year-ago period, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) stated.

“Semiconductor capital equipment bookings are at the highest level since April 2008,” SEMI Chief Executive Stanley Myers said.

Silicon Wafer Shipments Bounce Back in the Second Half of 2009 (Chart 32)

Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments decreased by 18% in 2009 when compared to 2008 area shipments, according to the SEMI Silicon Manufacturers Group in its year-end analysis of the silicon wafer industry. Revenues also declined by 41% in 2009 compared to 2008.

Silicon wafer area shipments in 2009 totaled 6,707 million square inches (MSI), down from the 8,137 million square inches shipped during 2008. Revenues fell to $6.7 billion from $11.4 billion posted in 2008. “This past year was clearly a difficult time for the industry” Takashi Yamada, chairman of SEMI SMG and General Manager SUMCO. “We are encouraged by the increase in silicon shipments over the past three quarters.”

* Silicon for semiconductor applications

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