The year of 2020 will no doubt go down in history as one of the most difficult, life-changing years of the past century. At the beginning of 2020, no one could have anticipated the global impact that COVID-19 would have on all of us and in particular, on the semiconductor industry.
Palomar had just moved into our new facilities in February of this year and before the paint was dry on the lab walls, we were faced with COVID-19 creating havoc across the world. As an essential industry, we kept our doors open, dedicated to supporting our customers, with many employees working from home. Trade shows across the industry were cancelled, businesses and restaurants closed and for several months, the world was forced to adjust.
As the industry recovered from the shock of COVID-19, our customers jumped into action developing sensors for IR thermometers, as well as pressure sensors for respirators and came to Palomar for equipment to make sure the world survived this unknown virus. I am proud to say that we were able to deliver, not only with our bonding equipment but also with our Innovation Center in Carlsbad moved into high gear developing sensors for several of our customers.
Additionally, we delivered many bonders for 5G rollouts, which ramped up, as the demand for connectivity dramatically increased with work/school-at-home became the norm. Our employees truly realized our mission to create simple solutions for the complex problems that our customers are solving around the world. However, despite the challenges of operating a business during COVID, we exceeded the expectations of our customers while at the same time, we launched the Palomar 8100 wire bonder based on our extensive experience with wire bonding. We developed a research initiative with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB, placing an SST 8301 Automated Vacuum Soldering System in their facilities in Germany for use in research projects related to power electronics and automotive microelectronics packaging.
As we end 2020, the world has a number of COVID vaccines available that are already rolling out. While we still face a somewhat unknown future for a while ahead, what we have learned through this is resilience and a belief in our own strengths to overcome the challenges we all face.
When I read SEMI’s prediction for the semiconductor industry in 2021/2022, I am positive that we will not only build on the strengths that we have developed in 2020 but we will find new challenges to make us even stronger for years to come.
“The growth is expected to continue with the global semiconductor manufacturing equipment market reaching $ 71.9 billion in 2021 and $76.1 billion in 2022…The assembly and packaging equipment segment is forecast to grow 20% to $3.5 billion in 2020, followed by 8% and 5% increases in 2021 and 2022, respectively, driven by advanced packaging applications.” www.semi.org
Wishing you, our customers and your families a very Happy Holiday and a prosperous 2021.
Bruce Hueners
President & CEO
Palomar Technologies, Inc.