SI's Take on Semicon West

SEMI (San Jose, California), has released its final post-SEMICON West show report and, considering that the event took place during a time when our industry finds itself in one of its recurring doldrums, it looks very good. This once again demonstrates that it’s still by far the most important annual event for the global microelectronics industry, with considerable interest for those involved in photovoltaics, MEMS, solid-state lighting, flexible electronics and other related technologies.



SEMICON West verified visitor attendance grew 19% in 2008. Source: SEMI.

The highlights of the SEMI report on SEMICON West 2008, which took place in San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center July 15-17, reveal that there were 1,121 exhibitors, and that verified visitor attendance increased by 19% over last year, for a grand total of 17,048. The stats go on to show that there was an 85% increase in manufacturing equipment interest and a corresponding 58% increase in materials interest, which, again, seems to be a good indicator that the industry is moving ahead even though it is presently struggling through one of its painful cyclical downturns.

As has been the case with past shows, the job levels of those who attended reveal that SEMICON visitors are among the most important decision-makers of the companies that they represent; the people who influence and direct the selection of products and suppliers, steering the direction of the buying cycle.



SEMICON West attendees represent every level and every discipline in the buying
cycle. Source: SEMI.

This year’s first co-location of the event with Intersolar North America confirms the mounting interest that the semiconductor industry is displaying toward any and all things photovoltaic. According to SEMI, about 19% of registered visitors attended with a very specific interest in the developing PV market. Another new activity for the show was the first SEMI Packaging Summit, which featured some of the leaders in that field, such as Amkor, IBM, Intel and TSMC.

International attendance has continued its increase over the last few years. This year it grew by 5%, with foreign attendees making up 15% of all visitors.



International attendance grew 5% in 2008, with international attendees represent-
ing 15% of all visitors. Source: SEMI

We look forward to SEMICON West 2009 breaking these attendance records yet again, this time hopefully during one of our industry’s dizzying up cycles.