SAN FRANCISCO -- Semiconductor equipment sales will fall 52% to $14.14 billion this year, according to SEMI's latest capital equipment forecast.

That's on top of a 31% drop in 2008, the trade group said. Next year should be better, SEMI said, forecasting a rebound of 47%.

"Spending on semiconductor manufacturing equipment this year will reach low levels experienced 15 years or so ago," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "Forecasting has never been more challenging, though we expect 2010 spending to show double-digit improvement off of extremely low levels in 2009.”

Wafer processing equipment, the largest product segment by dollar value, is expected to decline 53% in 2009 to $10.42 billion. The forecast predicts that the market for assembly and packaging equipment will decline by 53% to $958 million in 2009. The market for semiconductor test equipment is forecasted to decline about 48% to $1.78 billion.

Growth is anticipated to be negative in all regions in 2009 with the North American market claiming the No. 1 spot from Japan. Japan will fall to the number two spot, followed by Taiwan. The South Korea market is expected to contract 62%, resulting in the fourth largest market for new equipment.