The chemical mechanical planarization or polishing (CMP) process is one of the vital processes in the production of semiconductor devices, which uses CMP slurries and pads to planarize the surface of wafers. CMP becomes increasingly important to IC manufacturers as the size of ICs shrink and their complexity increases. CMP is required for the efficient manufacturing of today's advanced ICs, which typically have feature sizes of less than 0.25 microns. The growth of the CMP industry is fueling an increase in the number of companies offering CMP equipment and consumable products. At the current state of the art, CMP demonstrates significant advantages due to its high degree of process acceptance, particularly in the chemical formulation of polishing solutions and slurries.

According to a soon-to-be-released report from Business Communications Company, Inc, RGB-288 Chemical Mechanical Polishing Equipment and Materials: A Technical and Market Analysis, the global market for CMP and post-CMP equipment, CMP slurries, and CMP pads, conditioners, and other consumables is estimated at $1.7 billion in 2003. This is expected to approach $3.3 billion by 2008 with an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 14.2% through 2008.

The largest share of the market is for CMP and post-CMP equipment, which was $925 million in 2003, constituting 55% of the total CMP market. CMP slurries have a share of 24% followed by CMP pads with 15% of the market, the rest being other consumables. The AAGRs for individual segments are estimated to be between 14 to 15% except for CMP slurry, which is estimated to be 12.6%. This is due to the lowering of the price of nanoparticles in the projected period.

In regional market shares, Asia accounts for the largest with about 50% of the market, followed by North America with 36%, and Europe with 12% of the market. In the next five years, the Asian market is expected to grow at a faster pace than those in North America and Europe.

In terms of the global industry structure, there are about one dozen producers in each of the market segments: CMP equipment, CMP slurries, and CMP pads; and half a dozen producers of pad conditioners. There is a market leader in each of the first three, Applied Materials in CMP equipment, Cabot Microelectronics in CMP slurries, and Rodel in CMP pads. For market leaders, the CMP business is highly profitable. However, competitors are making strides into the markets to take away some share of the business from each of the market leaders.

With the semiconductor industry expected to have healthy growth in the next five years, the CMP business is expected to follow suit.