According to a recently published BCC Research report, THE GLOBAL MARKET FOR ADVANCED ELECTRONIC PACKAGING (SMC066A), the total market for semiconductor packaging and testing services will grow from $39.5 billion in 2006 to $57.6 billion in 2011 at a CAGR of 7.8%.

BCC forecasts that the total market for outsourced semiconductor packaging and testing (OSPT) services will grow from $16.2 billion in 2006 to $43.7 billion in 2011 at a CAGR of 22.0%. In effect, the OSPT segment is slated to grow at almost three times the pace of the overall semiconductor packaging and testing segment. This growth can be attributed to shorter turnaround times, greater manufacturing efficiencies, better economies of scale, and more suitable geographical location of OSPT service providers.

OSPT services, when distributed along separate packaging and testing functions, will exhibit comparable growth rates, strongly underlining their inter-reliance and justifying the joining of these functions.

Advanced packaging techniques are making their presence felt in multiple areas of semiconductor manufacturing process. PoP (Package on Package), SiP (System in Package), and MCM (Multi Chip Module) will grow the fastest, emphasizing the departure of packaging and testing techniques from their traditional roles of thermal, mechanical, and electrical protection of the die/package to a value-added role in the semi-conductor design itself by integrating functional features on the package.

The APAC region will overtake the Americas and emerge as the largest consumer of advanced packaging output. The reasons for this shift are directly linked to the emergence of Asian economies and the incentives offered by the governments of that region to various OEMs to setup their operations.