Market Trends of Rotary Vane Vacuum Pump Industry
Semiconductor Industry is Expected to Hold Significant Share
- With the semiconductor industry being a key driver of the significant region's economic strength, global competitiveness, and technology leadership, especially in microprocessors, the demand for vane vacuum pumps has been substantial.
- Semiconductor technology has rapidly evolved, leading to the development of semiconductor devices over generations. Currently, the manufacture and use of semiconductor equipment involves many high and new techniques, such as various chemical elements, and has a robust technical comprehensiveness.
- Semiconductor equipment technology has gradually integrated technology modularization into equipment, making it highly automated and intelligent, affecting the natural separation of material and the process to change. New vacuum applications in the semiconductor manufacturing process have emerged, mainly fueled by the production of smartphones, high-brightness LED lighting, photovoltaic solar panels, and Li-ion batteries.
- For instance, according to WSTS, semiconductor sales in 2021 were USD 555.89 billion. It increased from USD 440.39 billion globally and was forecasted to rise to USD 613.52 billion in 2022. The increase in semiconductors sales will drive the rotary vane vacuum pump market.
- Semiconductor process vacuum is used across evaporation, sputtering, PECVD, vacuum dry etching, vacuum adsorption, testing equipment, vacuum cleaning, and other bonding processes. The flammable, explosive, and toxic substance gases in the manufacturing process of semiconductor, leads the manufacturer of vacuum pumps to adhere to compliances such as CE and UL/CSA standards for production and personnel safety.
- Dry etching, for instance, is generally used to remove the etched thin film through a combination of physical and chemical methods, so the etching has anisotropy, which can fundamentally improve the inherent problem of horizontal drilling erosion of wet process, to meet the requirements of fine line etching, rotary vane vacuum technology is one of them. Also, vacuum pumps alone represent up to 25% of the total energy consumed by a semiconductor manufacturing facility.
North America is Expected to Hold Significant Share
- Traditionally, European vendors dominated the rotary vane vacuum pump market, such as Atlas Copco, which acquired various pump businesses to increase its foothold. However, these companies reported revenues closer to their domestic revenues. While several vendors have established their manufacturing facilities in North America, in the United States, the other international vendors have increased their distributor networks in North America. The rotary vane vacuum pump is expected to grow significantly in the United States owing to the several developments taking place in various end-user industries, such as semiconductors, solar, and process industries.
- In August 2022, Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries announced a new partnership that included USD 4.2 billion to manufacture chips in an expansion of GlobalFoundries' upstate New York facility. Qualcomm, the leading fabless semiconductor company in the world, announced plans to increase semiconductor production in the US by up to 50% over the next five years. With the rotary vane vacuum pump significantly used in semiconductors, the developments are expected to impact the region's market positively.
- Similarly, in September 2022, the US President signed into law the Chips and Science Act, which authorized about USD 52 billion in government subsidies for US semiconductor production and research, as well as an investment tax credit for chip plants estimated to be worth USD 24 billion.
- The upcoming semiconductor fabrication projects by different companies will further boost the rotary vane vacuum pump demand. For instance, in March 2021, Intel stated that it would invest USD 20 billion in two new fabs in Chandler, Arizona, adding to Arizona's burgeoning semiconductor manufacturing base.
- Such subsidies and investments in semiconductor production and research in this region will drive the market for rotary vane vacuum pumps.