Semiconductor equipment can be divided into wafer processing equipment, packaging equipment, testing equipment and other equipment according to different processes. Wafer processing equipment and wafer cleaning machine account for more than 80% of the market share due to the most complex technology.

The importance of cleaning is becoming increasingly prominent, and the single-chip cleaning equipment has become the mainstream

With more and more advanced process nodes in IC manufacturing, new requirements are put forward for several links in actual manufacturing, and the importance of cleaning link is becoming increasingly prominent.

The crux of cleaning is that semiconductor is more and more sensitive to impurity content with the continuous reduction of feature size, and some pollutants such as particles, organics, metals and oxides will inevitably be introduced into semiconductor manufacturing.

In order to reduce the influence of impurities on the yield of chip, it is not only necessary to improve the single cleaning efficiency in actual production, but also need to be cleaned frequently before and after almost all processes, and the cleaning steps account for about 33% of the overall steps.

According to the TMR 2015 Research Report, screen, Tokyo electronics and Lam are the top three in the global semiconductor wafer cleaning equipment market, accounting for 87.7% of the total market share.

Considering the high basic cost of semiconductor equipment and the difficulty of independent verification, joint research and development with local manufacturers is the common strategy of major manufacturers.

According to Moore's law, the accuracy and density of integrated circuits will be higher and higher, which puts forward higher requirements for wafer manufacturing equipment.

On the one hand, more advanced equipment is needed for processing, which will be reflected in the higher unit price of the equipment. For example, the latest EUV photoresist purchased by SMIC from ASML costs US $120 million; On the other hand, with the process upgrading, multiple exposure will gradually replace single exposure. In addition, the number and frequency of equipment such as etching machine and cleaning machine will be higher and higher, which will be reflected in the increase of equipment orders.

According to semi, the share of wafer processing equipment will increase from 80.5% in 2017 to 81.8% in 2018.

The semiconductor equipment industry is characterized by high capital intensity, high patent barriers, high initial investment and low return, which makes it difficult for new players to enter. Therefore, after a long period of development and entering a mature period, the market is gradually monopolized by giant companies such as the United States, Japan and the Netherlands. These companies generally enjoy the enlightenment dividend of the semiconductor industry in the early growth stage, And the follow-up technology moat is getting deeper and deeper under the high profit.

From 2012 to 2016, the list of top 5 semiconductor equipment manufacturers in the world has not changed.

From the perspective of monopoly of various equipment, the top 3 market share of core manufacturing equipment such as lithography, PVD and etch is higher than 90%, and the latter has almost no living space; The monopoly of CVD and wet treatment equipment is relatively low, but the market share of top3 has reached 70% - 85%.