Probe Card Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2024 - 2029)

The global probe card market is segmented by technology (MEMS, vertical, cantilever, specialty), application (DRAM, flash, foundry & logic, parametric), type (standard probe card, advanced probe card), and geography (North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the rest of the world). The market sizes and forecasts are provided in terms of value (USD million) for all the above segments.

Probe Card Market Size

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Probe Card Market Summary
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Study Period 2019 - 2029
Base Year For Estimation 2023
CAGR 6.70 %
Fastest Growing Market Asia-Pacific
Largest Market North America
Market Concentration Medium

Major Players

Probe Card Market Major Players

*Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order

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Probe Card Market Analysis

The probe card market was valued at USD 2,769.7 million during the current year and is anticipated to reach USD 3,837.7 million by the end of the forecast period, registering a CAGR of 6.7% during the forecast period. The trend in 5G mobility and automotive Advanced Driver Assistance System sensors toward high-frequency and smaller devices creates substantial test challenges, leading to increased instrumentation and interface complexity.

  • Further, in line with the rising demand for photonic solutions in the semiconductor sector, the requirements for corresponding ecosystems for optoelectronic components are growing, and thus semiconductor manufacturers with their own supply chains are changing their operating processes. In addition to the existing test infrastructure for electrical components, infrastructure for photonic component testing is being implemented. However, test houses offering services such as wafer-level testing for fabless manufacturers face the challenge of expanding or reimagining their test solutions toward photonic integrated circuits (PICs).
  • To achieve great performance at cheap costs, IC makers are integrating novel chip-packaging alternatives, such as 2.5D ICs and 3D ICs, into their production processes. These advanced packaging solutions, which are still in their early stages, promise improved chip connections and lower power usage compared to conventional package arrangements. The adoption of advanced packaging technologies is projected to increase demand for semiconductor equipment. Modern semiconductor packaging technologies enable manufacturers to provide cutting-edge electronic products that follow the IoT and digitalization trends. Additionally, customer preference for smartwatches and IoT gadgets would increase the market for probe cards.
  • In addition to the established tests for ICs, customers also look for test services for new and advanced types of PIC testing at the wafer level in the semiconductor industry. To that extent, in November 2021, RoodMicrotec announced that it used Jenoptik's UFO Probe Card technology for its PIC wafer-level testing. The UFO Probe Card from Jenoptik facilitates the testing of electrical and optical components with only one probe card-in parallel, not sequentially, as with previous solutions. Thus, wafer-level tests can be performed in a more time-saving manner, and the throughput is significantly increased.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic impacted multiple global markets. The automotive, mobility, and civil aviation industries suffered drastically, though in very different ways. Moreover, the pandemic changed the perception of the global supply chain in manufacturing, where more localized value chains and regionalization came into the picture. These primarily served to reduce similar potential pandemic risks in the future. On the other hand, due to the rollout of the sub-6 GHz band and the expansion of 5G, the consumer market displayed a positive outlook and received significant support from radio-frequency (RF) MEMS. However, the smartphone market is aligned with decreased consumer spending.
  • Further, one of the main obstacles preventing the expansion of the probe card market is the semiconductor industry's rapid technical advancements. The semiconductor market is highly competitive. The industry is characterized by frequent and quick technology changes, brief product life cycles, severe price erosion, and changing standards. The semiconductor sector is still undergoing rapid technical advancements. This is primarily due to the increasing complexity of integrated circuits (ICs), which are becoming smaller while gaining capability and speed. Design challenges in ICs are rising as a result of technological advancements, including the move toward larger wafer sizes, the creation of lower technology nodes like 10-nm and 7-nm, and progress in MEMS. Therefore, probing card manufacturers must overcome obstacles to create cutting-edge solutions that can accurately detect functional flaws in wafers.

Probe Card Market Trends

The MEMS Segment is Expected to Hold a Major Market Share

  • MEMS technology provides a way to produce probes that contact the I/Os and power connections on ICs at micron-level perfection. Due to their accuracy, MEMS probes are suitable for supporting the advanced packaging and advanced semiconductor process nodes' fine-pitch and high-pin count requirements. However, not all MEMS probes are created equal. MEMS probe cards are at the forefront of these developments, addressing issues with advanced 2.5/3D packages, the wide temperature ranges needed to test ICs for the automotive industry, the emerging requirements for high bandwidth and efficient signal integrity in RF applications, and lowering the cost to test thousands of DRAM memory devices in a single touchdown.
  • Further, probe cards are used as the main interface for signal transmission between the dies under test (DUT) and the automatic test equipment (ATE), determining if the DUT passes or fails during wafer-level IC testing. Numerous MEMS probe cards have been produced recently, some of which have been marketed due to their significant advantages over traditional probe cards. Due to its constraints, the standard probe card, which consists of an epoxy ring manually fitted with dozens to hundreds of cantilever needles, cannot be modified for next-generation IC testing. Such developments are expected to drive the study market.
  • To cater to the rise in demand from customers for the MEMS probe card segment, various firms are launching new and advanced products. For example, FeinMetall Gmbh provides M-Probe probe cards, which are characterized by MEMS contact elements and are particularly suitable for fine-pitch full array applications in wafer tests. With MProbe, very fine pitches with a full array of 50 m can be realized. MProbe is based on the probe concepts of ViProbe and serves high-temperature applications almost to the same extent. The innovative free beam placement process, in combination with the round beam cross-section, offers efficient maintainability and thus reduces downtime to a minimum.
  • Further, in June 2022, STAR Technologies Inc., a significant player in semiconductor test probe cards, announced a joint collaboration with one of the top foundries in the world for the successful creation of fine-pitch MEMS pre-bump probe cards for pre-bumped wafer test and reliability qualification. Further lowering the cost of pre-bumped wafer sort are these probe cards, which have probe heads manufactured on the same PCBs and space transformers as bumped test probe cards. This technique allows for a quicker transition from early-stage process technology yield ramp to high-volume manufacturing to meet the expanding worldwide chip demand in the semiconductor industry.
  • Developers of MEMS probe cards must consider temperature effects as part of their MEMS design or risk several costly design-and-fabrication cycles to resolve material problems used in manufacturing. The product is typically implemented under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. Advanced approaches utilize a thin-film deposition technique, and a cavity for MEMS is realized via sacrificial etch through access holes at the thin-film cap.
Probe Card Market: STMicroelectronics revenue share, by product group, in %, 2016-2022

The Asia Pacific Region is Expected to Witness a High Market Growth

  • Due to the presence of prominent semiconductor manufacturers, significant suppliers of semiconductor materials, high-end equipment, and specialized semiconductors, primarily in Japan, the Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to dominate the probe card market throughout the forecast period. Another factor driving the probe card market is South Korea's competitive advantage in the global high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) markets. The market for probe cards is also being driven by incorporating semiconductors into automotive electronics for safety-related purposes, automation, electrification, and security.
  • Further, there is an increasing sale of EVs in Asian countries, which has made companies develop IGBT semiconductors that support EV applications. For instance, in July 2021, ROHM produced hybrid IGBTs with integrated 650V SiC Schottky barrier diodes in the RGWxx65C series (RGW60TS65CHR, RGW80TS65CHR, and RGW00TS65CHR). They're intended for high-power applications in automotive and industrial applications like solar power conditioners, onboard chargers, and DC/DC converters in electric and electrified cars (xEV). In the IGBT's feedback block, the RGWxx65C series uses ROHM's low-loss SiC Schottky barrier diodes as freewheeling diodes with nearly little recovery energy and, consequently, negligible diode switching loss.
  • An additional factor supporting the market for probe cards is the growing adoption of semiconductors due to new technologies like autonomous driving, artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, and the Internet of Things. To keep their competitive edge in the industry, top competitors are also focused on a variety of marketing methods like mergers and acquisitions and collaborations. To broaden its sales footprint and become more competitive in the global market, Nidec Corporation, for instance, purchased SV Probe Pte. Ltd.
  • Moreover, DRAM is a high-volume commodity memory semi-component that is commonly used in smartphones, tablets, PCs, and servers, among others. Historically, DRAM memory technology went through die shrinks, and with the release of the advanced memory module, the x/y memory cell pattern on the silicon wafer is getting significantly smaller. This is also increasing the cost of manufacturing the next generation of DRAMs due to the rising requirement for precision manufacturing. Some of the major players in the market are Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.
  • Samsung is reinforcing its dominance in the DRAM market. During the second quarter of 2021, the company registered a 43.6% share of the global DRAM market. The company has been introducing new versions of DRAMs for various end-users. For instance, in November 2021, the company announced the development of a 14-nanometer-based 16-gigabit LPDDR5X (Low Power Double Data Rate 5X DRAM) for applications in artificial intelligence, 5G, and the metaverse.
  • In May 2022, Apple selected a new South Korean component supplier to provide them with sockets and probe cards for semiconductor testing. In contrast to its previous reliance on Taiwan and China, Apple is gradually moving its socket and probe card supplies to South Korea.
Global Probe Card Market - Growth Rate by Region

Probe Card Industry Overview

The global probe card market is moderately competitive owing to the presence of multiple players like FormFactor Ltd., Feinmetall GmbH, Advantest Corporation, Korea Instrument Co. Ltd., etc. The players in the market are adopting strategies like product innovation, mergers, and acquisitions to expand their product portfolio, expand their geographic reach, and primarily stay competitive in the market.

In December 2022, Cohu, Inc., a global supplier of equipment and services optimizing semiconductor manufacturing productivity and yield, announced a strategic collaboration with Chunghwa Precision Test Tech. Co., Ltd., a prominent provider of test interface solutions, to provide advanced probe card and interface products to the semiconductor test market.

In April 2022, prominent semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation announced its industry-first ACS Adaptive Probe Cleaning solution to optimize the probe card cleaning cycle with efficacy. STMicroelectronics has installed ACS APC at two of its manufacturing sites and is seeing cleaning cycle times slashed significantly to effectively improve yield, lengthen probe card life cycles, and increase system availability for testing.

Probe Card Market Leaders

  1. FormFactor Ltd.

  2. Feinmetall GmbH

  3. SV Probe

  4. Microfriend Inc.

  5. Japan Electronic Materials Corporation

*Disclaimer: Major Players sorted in no particular order

Probe Card Market Concentration
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Probe Card Market News

October 2022: Tikehau Capital, a Paris-based asset management company, invested USD 30 million in Probe Test Solutions, a Glasgow, Scotland-based provider of automated test equipment (ATE) probe cards. The money raised was to assist the business in expanding internationally. With this investment, Probe Test Solutions (PTSL) will get operational support from Tikehau Capital to hasten its global expansion, including the right acquisitions as part of the continuing semiconductor sector consolidation. Probe Test Solutions continually monitored the market and its rivals in order to identify ATE ecosystem companies that have comparable technology and competencies.

May 2022: Advantest Corporation launched its DUT Scale Duo interface for the V93000 EXA Scale SoC test systems, enabling a high level of parallelism for testing advanced semiconductors. With this interface, the usable space on DUT boards and probe cards was claimed to be increased by 50% or more, while wafer probe and final-test setups can accommodate component heights that are more than three times taller.

Table of Contents

  1. 1. INTRODUCTION

    1. 1.1 Study Assumptions and Market Definition

    2. 1.2 Scope of the Study

  2. 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

  3. 3. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  4. 4. MARKET INSIGHTS

    1. 4.1 Market Overview

    2. 4.2 Impact of COVID-19 on the Market

    3. 4.3 Industry Attractiveness - Porter's Five Forces Analysis

      1. 4.3.1 Bargaining Power of Buyers

      2. 4.3.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

      3. 4.3.3 Threat of New Entrants

      4. 4.3.4 Threat of Substitute Products

      5. 4.3.5 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry

    4. 4.4 Technology Snapshot

  5. 5. MARKET DYNAMICS

    1. 5.1 Market Drivers

      1. 5.1.1 Increase in demand for consumer electronics and IoT

      2. 5.1.2 Miniaturization of electronic products

      3. 5.1.3 Technological Advancements and Innovations

    2. 5.2 Market Restraints

      1. 5.2.1 High costs associated with probe cards

      2. 5.2.2 Lack of awareness among consumers regarding the benefits of probe card solution

  6. 6. MARKET SEGMENTATION

    1. 6.1 By Technology

      1. 6.1.1 MEMS

      2. 6.1.2 Vertical

      3. 6.1.3 Cantilever

      4. 6.1.4 Speciality

      5. 6.1.5 Other Technologies

    2. 6.2 By Application

      1. 6.2.1 DRAM

      2. 6.2.2 Flash

      3. 6.2.3 Foundry & Logic

      4. 6.2.4 Parametric

      5. 6.2.5 Other Applications (RF / MMW / Radar Calibration Tools)

    3. 6.3 By Type

      1. 6.3.1 Standard Probe Card

      2. 6.3.2 Advanced Probe Card

    4. 6.4 By Geography

      1. 6.4.1 North America

      2. 6.4.2 Asia-Pacific

      3. 6.4.3 Europe

      4. 6.4.4 Rest of the World

  7. 7. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

    1. 7.1 Company Profiles

      1. 7.1.1 FormFactor Ltd.

      2. 7.1.2 Japan Electronic Materials Corporation

      3. 7.1.3 SV Probe

      4. 7.1.4 Microfriend

      5. 7.1.5 Feinmetall GmbH

      6. 7.1.6 Advantest Corporation

      7. 7.1.7 Korea Instrument Co. Ltd.

      8. 7.1.8 MPI Corporation

      9. 7.1.9 Wentworth Labs

      10. 7.1.10 Synergie Cad

      11. 7.1.11 GGB Industries

    2. *List Not Exhaustive
  8. 8. INVESTMENT ANALYSIS

  9. 9. FUTURE OF THE MARKET

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Probe Card Industry Segmentation

A probe card is a jig used for the electrical testing of a large-scale integrated (LSI) circuit chip on a wafer during the wafer test process in LSI manufacturing. A probe card is docked to a wafer probe to connect the LSI chip electrodes, and an LSI tester is used as a measuring machine. The probe card needles contact the LSI chip electrodes to conduct electrical testing for the go/no-go test.

The global probe card market is segmented by technology (MEMS, vertical, cantilever, specialty), application (DRAM, flash, foundry & logic, parametric), type (standard probe card, advanced probe card), and geography (North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the rest of the world). The market sizes and forecasts are provided in terms of value (USD million) for all the above segments.

By Technology
MEMS
Vertical
Cantilever
Speciality
Other Technologies
By Application
DRAM
Flash
Foundry & Logic
Parametric
Other Applications (RF / MMW / Radar Calibration Tools)
By Type
Standard Probe Card
Advanced Probe Card
By Geography
North America
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Rest of the World
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Frequently Asked Questions

The Probe Card Market is projected to register a CAGR of 6.70% during the forecast period (2024-2029)

FormFactor Ltd., Feinmetall GmbH, SV Probe, Microfriend Inc. and Japan Electronic Materials Corporation are the major companies operating in the Probe Card Market.

Asia-Pacific is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR over the forecast period (2024-2029).

In 2024, the North America accounts for the largest market share in Probe Card Market.

The report covers the Probe Card Market historical market size for years: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. The report also forecasts the Probe Card Market size for years: 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029.

Probe Card Industry Report

Statistics for the 2024 Probe Card market share, size and revenue growth rate, created by Mordor Intelligenceā„¢ Industry Reports. Probe Card analysis includes a market forecast outlook to for 2024 to 2029 and historical overview. Get a sample of this industry analysis as a free report PDF download.

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Probe Card Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2024 - 2029)