Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending declined 16.1 percent to US$37.8 billion in 2012, according to Gartner. Wafer-level manufacturing underperformed in 2012, pulled down by weakness in lithography and deposition. Among the major sectors, those more strongly driven by logic manufacturing, 28/20-nanometer (nm) processing and yield ramps-ups did better.

“Continued oversupply in DRAM and the shift to NAND into oversupply led to a reduced need for capacity,” said Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, Managing Vice President at Gartner. “Memory manufacturing-related purchases declined significantly. Logic-related spending provided only a weak counterforce, impacted by slowing overall semiconductor device demand in the second half of 2012 and bulging inventories. Consequently, manufacturing equipment sales realized a declining quarterly pattern, starting in the second quarter through the end of the year.”

Applied Materials reclaimed the top spot based on its relative strength in deposition and process control. Weakness in lithography and limited sales in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) caused ASML’s decline. Similar to Applied, Tokyo Electron Ltd (TEL) benefited from its relative strength in the nonlithography sectors it serves. Lam Research moved to 4th following its merger with Novellus Systems.