Applied Materials which has been the world’s largest supplier of front-end wafer processing equipment for nearly 30 years is about to be overtaken by ASML says The Information Network.

“Applied Materials, which has been losing market share in the wafer front end (WFE) equipment market for the past three years, is poised to lose its lead in 2019,” says The Information Network’s president  Robert Castellano (pictured)  “ASML will take over the lead on the strength of its shipments of pricy EUV lithography equipment.”

Applied Materials, which had a market share of 19.2% in 2018 (down from 23.0% in 2015), will increase its share of the total market slightly to 19.4% in 2019.

However, ASML, which held an 18.0% share in 2018, will jump to a 21.6% share in 2019.

“Based on a modest recovery of 5% in the overall WFE market in 2020 and on capex spends planned by semiconductor manufacturers, ASML will increase its market share in 2020 to 22.8%, while Applied Materials will maintain its share of 19.3%,” said Castellano.