DIAMOND WIRE WAFER SLICING MACHINE MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Challenges And Opportunities

Shortcomings of conventional slicing machine is one of the major factors driving growth of the market

One of the major factors attributed to growth of the market is restraints in using conventional slicing machines including high volume of wastage while cutting the wafer, low speed of slicing the wafer, and low quality of dices. These factors are driving manufacturers to develop advanced wafer slicing machines, to overcome the challenges associated with conventional machine. For instance, in July 2017, Meyer Burger launched ‘DW288’ diamond wire wafer slicing machine. This machine ensures maximum material utilization while cutting and it requires low electricity while production and this machine also not produces any slurry, which is made of polyethylenglycol (PEG) and silicon carbide (SiC), which further helps in reducing the challenges associated with the recycling of silicon wafer.

Additionally, miniaturization of electronic devices is further propelling demand for small size chips to be incorporated in electronic devices, which in turn is driving demand for diamond wire wafer slicing machines, globally. This is due to higher accuracy of these machines to cut a wafer into smaller sizes as compared to conventional slicer machines. For instance, according to a press release of Apple, Inc., in May 2018, the company announced that it is going to use a 7nm (nanometer) chip for next generation iPhone and the processor will be named as ‘A12’ chip. This chip will be much smaller, faster, and more efficient than 10-nanometer chips, which is being used in current Apple devices such as iPhone 8 and iPhone X. Hence, all these factor will help in propelling growth of the market.

High cost of machine is one of the major factor restraining growth of the market

High cost of diamond wire wafer slicing machines is a major restraining factor for growth of the market. For instance, according to Coherent Market Insights’ analysis, the cost of 40HP Diamond Wire Machine is US$ 5088.75 per unit and cost of the 60HP Diamond Wire Machine is US$ 6563.75 per unit. Moreover, maintenance cost of these machines is also very high, which is another factor hampering growth of the market.