Order Activity is Edging Higher as Memory Pricing Recovers

Semiconductor equipment order activity increased to a moderate 70 °F last week as the weakness in Subcons and DAO was offset by the strength in memory and mobile. Fourth quarter results are in from the Taiwanese manufacturers and they are in line with our forecast. In the fourth quarter, foundries were down nearly 2% on a yearly basis but were up 13% QoQ. Memory on the other hand, has finally turned positive on a yearly basis in the Q4 2023, jumping 9% after six quarters of yearly declines.

Turning to the subcons, while still being down YoY, the declines are moderating. Now looking at Fabless, MediaTek jumped 18% QoQ and were up 20% from Q4 2022. This is a huge improvement over the last four quarters where the yearly declines were still in the 20–30% range.