The domestic testing equipment market has changed, and mid-to-high-end testing machines are in urgent need of breakthroughs

As we all know, packaging and testing is the most advanced link in the domestic semiconductor industry chain. At present, there are more than 300 packaging and testing manufacturers of all sizes in China. As more and more domestic IC companies build their own packaging and testing plants, this figure may continue to grow.

It is foreseeable that the more complex and integrated the chip is, the more important the chip testing link will be. At the same time, leading domestic IC design manufacturers such as Huawei HiSilicon and ZTE have gradually handed over the chip testing link to domestic suppliers. The domestic testing industry will become increasingly prosperous, and the demand for semiconductor testing equipment is also growing.

The market landscape is changing

For a long time, the global testing equipment market share has been mainly monopolized by Teradyne of the United States, Advantest of Japan, and Cosus of the United States, which together account for more than 90% of the market share.

It is understood that semiconductor testing equipment mainly includes testers, sorters and probe stations. From the perspective of market size, the proportions of testers, sorters and probe stations are 4:2:2 respectively.

Among the global semiconductor testing equipment manufacturers, the mainstream products of Japan's Advantest and the United States' Teradyne are testers. Japan's Advantest also produces sorters. The product line of the United States' Cosho covers sorters and some testers. Japan's Tepco is committed to probe station products. Japan's Epson and Taiwan's Honjin also mainly produce sorters.

Domestically, Huafeng Testing & Control is committed to testing machine products, Changchuan Technology's products cover testing machines and sorting machines, and it is developing probe station products. Foshan Liandong's product line includes testing machines, laser marking machines, video detection systems, etc. Shenzhen Sidian focuses on probe station products, and Shanghai Zhongyi focuses on sorting machines and taping machines.

Similar to the global semiconductor testing equipment market being monopolized, the domestic integrated circuit testing market is also mainly occupied by Teradyne of the United States and Advantest of Japan, but it is also changing.

Taking the testing machine market as an example, Teradyne of the United States and Advantest of Japan are also the manufacturers with the highest market share in domestic integrated circuit testing machines. In 2017, their combined market share reached 87%. However, in 2018, their combined market share dropped to about 82%. Although the decline is not large, it also shows that domestic manufacturers are breaking the foreign monopoly and gradually achieving import substitution.

According to industry insiders, at present, mid-to-high-end testers are basically provided by Teradyne of the United States and Advantest of Japan, and the equipment produced by these manufacturers is relatively good in terms of efficiency and stability. The leading domestic test equipment manufacturers include Changchuan Technology, Huafeng Measurement and Control, Foshan Liandong, etc., which can only produce mid-to-low-end testers such as power devices and analog circuits, mainly used for discrete devices, power ICs and other products.

Mid-to-high-end testing machines need to be conquered

In fact, the test machine is a hardware and software integrated product, including hardware equipment and test system-specific software. Industry insiders pointed out that compared with hardware, software is the area that domestic equipment manufacturers find difficult to conquer.

Although local companies such as Huafeng Testing & Control, Changchuan Technology, and Foshan Liandong have a large gap in scale and technology compared with international leaders, and their market share needs to be improved, domestic testing equipment companies such as Changchuan Technology and Huafeng Testing & Control have entered the supplier system of leading domestic and foreign semiconductor companies such as Changdian Technology, Huatian Technology, and Tongfu Microelectronics by virtue of their high-quality services.

Another industry insider also said that the domestic testing machine industry has flourished, but due to historical reasons, domestic machines are biased towards analog testing machines, and there is still room for breakthroughs in digital testing machines. There is not much difference between Changchuan Technology, Huafeng Testing & Control and Foshan Liandong in analog testing machines. The key lies in who cooperates better with the factory and provides better customer service.

Industry insiders further pointed out that domestically produced machines are actually much cheaper, but their performance and stability still need to be improved, and the entire industry is waiting for the rapid development of domestic equipment.

Jiwei.com learned from the industry that as the US ban on Huawei further escalates, domestic manufacturers are more willing to use domestic equipment.

According to CCID Consulting, the domestic ATE market was 3.6 billion yuan in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 41.7%. Among them, memory testers and SoC testers ranked first and second, accounting for 43.8% and 23.5% respectively; digital testers, analog testers, discrete device testers followed closely, accounting for 12.7%, 12.0% and 6.8% respectively, and RF testers accounted for 0.9%.

It is worth noting that although domestic manufacturers have made some progress in analog testers, mixed analog and digital testers, and discrete device testers, they have not yet been able to achieve mass production of products with larger market sizes, such as memory testers, SOC testers, and digital testers.

At present, Huafeng Testing & Control is extending towards the SOC tester and high-power device testing market, Changchuan Technology is also extending towards the high-power device testing market and digital tester market, and Foshan Liandong is focusing on digital tester products, which is also expected to become the main force for breakthroughs in domestic testing equipment in the mid-to-high-end market.