Global PV equipment market weakens in the third quarter 2012

At the end of 2010, Eileen Tanghal, Investment Director of Applied Materials, spoke at a clean technology conference and talked about the solar industry from the point of view of the equipment suppliers of Applied Materials. He said that “this year will be the solar industry situation compared to the next two or three years.” The best year" because "the supply has exceeded demand." When talking about the acquisition of Baccini by Applied Materials, he stated that "this transaction has reached its ultimate level, but we are concerned that it may no longer be a good thing next year and that the polysilicon price of $1.05/W is about to become a reality."

According to Tenghal, the installed PV capacity is already too high. In fact, the inventory of PV panels and the stock in the supply chain are as high as gigawatts. In fact, we have "passed" this sensitive line of polysilicon costs $ 1.05 / watt.

All these conditions will hinder the development of the photovoltaic equipment market, and the just-announced order shipment ratio of the International Semiconductor Equipment and Materials Association (SEMI) has also verified this trend.

The SEMI report stated that the global PV production equipment order shipment ratio fell to 0.35 in the third quarter, which is the lowest level since data collection began in the first quarter of 2010.

According to SEMI news, global orders fell by 24% from the previous quarter to US$1.6 billion.

The SEMI report also mentioned that “after the fixed-equipment investment in the entire supply chain peaked in 2010 and the first half of 2011, many PV manufacturers have cancelled or suspended expansion plans. Deterioration of market conditions and market expectations are not optimistic for next year. The outlook for the industry casts a shadow. If Europe, Japan, and China do not make policy interventions and the credit crisis and economic conditions have not substantially eased and improved, it is expected that the ordering situation will not significantly improve in the next six months."

Applied Materials' solar panel segment recorded a new record in 2011, but it started to decline in the fourth quarter. It looks to 2012 for Applied Materials' Energy & Environment Solutions (covering solar panel business) and the entire photovoltaic equipment industry. dim.