A probe card is an interface used to conduct a wafer test on a semiconductor wafer. In the first stage of semiconductor production, this procedure is used to evaluate the quality of integrated circuits or latent semantic indexing, The market for probe cards is probably driven by an increase in the demand for electronic testing in the semiconductor industry. propelling the Probe Card Market growth.
Additionally, the global market for probe cards is predicted to benefit from an increase in strategic partnerships and organisational collaboration. The leading manufacturer of semiconductor test probe cards, STAR Technologies Inc., announced in June 2022 that it had teamed up with one of the global top manufacturing facilities to successfully develop fine-pitch MEMS pre-bump probe cards for pre-bumped wafer testing and reliability validation. These probe cards, whose probe heads are made on the same PCBs and space transformers as bumped test probe cards, help to further reduce the price of pre-bumped wafer sorting. In order to fulfil the growing demand for chips around the world, this technique enables a quicker transition from early-stage process technology yield ramp to high-volume manufacture. These factors positively influence the probe card industry outlook during the forecast period.
COVID-19 / Ukraine Crisis - Impact Analysis:
Due to the global economic crisis caused by the Covid pandemic, Additionally, the pandemic impacted the way individuals looked about the global supply chain in industry, bringing into play more regionalization and locally based value chains. These mostly served to lower future pandemic risks that might be similar. On the other hand, the consumer market showed an optimistic future and gained major assistance from radio-frequency (RF) MEMS as a result of the spread of the sub-6 GHz band and the expansion of 5G. However, the market for smartphones is in line with decreasing consumer spending. For instance, Apple reportedly observed an 8% reduction in sales, going from 44.5 million devices sold in the first quarter of 2019 to almost 40.1 million in the first quarter of 2020. The lockdown imposed by the government during the pandemic suspended activities severely which negatively impacted the Probe Card Market.
The conflict with Russia and Ukraine has had a big effect on a lot of various industries and as the crisis and the state of the world economy change, are also the effects on the semiconductor industry, including probe cards. Moreover, According to AspenCore, Inc., the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine is creating to result in a shortage of industrial neon, which have a detrimental effect on the market for probe cards and the production of semiconductors. The last time there is a major neon shortage in the semiconductor industry.
Key Takeaways:
Fastest Growth of Asia Pacific Region
Geographically, Asia Pacific dominated the Probe Card Market with a share of more than 9.5%, followed by North America and Europe. Technologically advanced and innovative product launches by major manufacturers present in the region are cost-effective and can endure high foot traffic driving Probe Card Market in APAC region. According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation, with 120 factories as of July 2018 and about 225 million mobile handsets produced between 2017 and 2018, India is the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. Samsung, a major manufacturer of smartphones, stated in 2017 that it will invest $746 million to increase its capacity in India from 68 million units to 120 million units. The expansion of manufacturing facilities and modernization of existing ones in the APAC region, together with a rise in smartphone sales, will drive up demand for Probe Cards throughout the forecast period.
MEMS Register the Fastest Growth
In the Probe Card Market analysis, the MEMS segment is estimated to grow with the highest CAGR during the forecast period. MEMS Probe cards are mostly contributing to the market's expansion. MEMS-SP stands for logic probe cards, which can be used to test fine pitch bump wafers as well as flip chips for SoC and microprocessor devices. Testing with MEMS-SP is incredibly accurate, repeatable, and variable-free. MEMS technology makes micron-level contact with IC I/Os and power connections possible.
For instance, according to the Ericsson Mobility report for the fourth quarter of 2022, there were 106% of mobile subscriptions worldwide. In Q4 2022, there were more than 8.4 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide thanks to a net addition of 39 million subscriptions throughout the quarter. As a result of such advances, it is projected that demand for MEMS devices would rise, giving vendors a variety of business options to grow their market share and satisfy consumer demand for MEMS in smartphones.
Foundry segment is Leading the Market
According to the Probe Card Market forecast, the foundry held the largest market valuation of the largest section, foundry, is anticipated to continue growing at the highest rate over the projected period owing to the rise of the semiconductor sector. The adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) is constantly increasing as a result of the rising cloud acceptance, expanding high-speed connectivity availability, and expanding use of data processing and analytics. For instance, according to Ericsson, there were 1.9 billion cellular IoT connections worldwide in 2022, and that number is projected to increase to 5.5 billion in 2027.
Additionally, the market's demand for chips is being increased by the growing trend of connected device usage in the residential and commercial sectors. For instance, in 2021, Telia Company saw a growth in IoT devices on its networks in the Nordics and Baltics of 30% year over year. In comparison to the prior year, this growth was more than double. the uses further bolster the higher demand for foundry segment.
The increasing investment in manufacturing facilities is one of the drivers fuelling the growth of the probe card market.
In order to satisfy the increased demand for ICs that the increasing number of electronic devices are employing, semiconductor manufacturers are developing their fabrication facilities (fabs). Because of the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies like human-machine interface technologies in electronic products, the need for ICs is rising. The complexity of IC designs as a result is increasing, which is fuelling demand for sophisticated probe cards. Additionally, the development of new fabs reflects the increase in demand for wafer testing and probe cards used in the production of such ICs. For instance, Huawei finished building its semiconductor chip facility in China in December 2020. The factory is located on 208,900 square metres of land. Samsung began building a new 3D NAND fabrication facility in China in May 2020. The facility will be used to begin mass producing 3D NAND in H2 2021. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing celebrated the opening of its Fab 18 Phase 1 production facility in January 2018. In Q1 2020, the fab began making chips utilising TSMC's 5 nm technology.
Raising use of radio-frequency microelectromechanical systems.
MEMS-based switches are anticipated to replace current products and be used in new contexts, including mobile phones and consumer electronics gadgets. The electromechanical relay (EMR), which is comparatively sluggish, big, uses more DC power, and has a short operating life, is also anticipated to be replaced by RF MEMS. Many different applications, including those in telecommunications, aerospace, and defence, will employ it. A MEMS switch is 1,000 times faster and at least 90% smaller than an EMR switch, consumes virtually no power, can withstand more than 3 billion switching operations, and can manage relatively high incident RF power. These are the advantages of RF MEMS switches over EMR switches.
Additionally, the network architecture for 5G must be much denser than that of the 4G LTE network in order to meet the performance targets of the technology. Providers intend to employ a large number of tiny cells with phased array antennas linked to a regional processing facility. It will also rely on the frequency that the carrier uses in that area. When incorporated into a phased array as part of the RF front end, RF MEMS technology can be quite beneficial. Vendors of 5G infrastructure are using RF MEMS tuners in the RF phase shifter circuits connected to each element in the array. For sub-6 GHz 5G frequencies, RF MEMS technology can supply insertion loss through the phase shifter at a rate that is half that of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology.
The Semiconductor industry's Rapid Technical advancements Hamper the Market Growth.
The semiconductor sector is incredibly cutthroat. Short product lifecycles, severe price erosion, continual and quick technology change, and dynamic standards define the industry. Rapid technical change is still occurring in the semiconductor sector. This is primarily due to the increasing complexity of ICs, which are becoming smaller in size while gaining functionality and speed. Technology advancements including the move to larger wafer sizes, the creation of lower technology nodes like 10-nm and 7-nm, and the advancement of MEMS are raising the design complexity of ICs. Additionally, NEMS structures are smaller (0.3 microns) than MEMS structures (micron scale), which results in higher dependability due to lighter loads. Reduced bulk provides greater resilience to mechanical shocks, which are frequently experienced by smartphones, wearable technology, and other gadgets. Additionally, because NEMS have a smaller footprint than traditional semiconductors, NEMS-based components have more room inside the enclosure for large batteries, extra sensors, and other components, which enhances the usefulness of the finished product. This factor impedes the Probe Card market growth.
Probe Card Market Share (%) By Region, 2022