MKS Instruments Powers its Way to Market Share Gains in 2020

Andover, MA, April 22, 2021 — MKS Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ: MKSI), a global provider of technologies that enable advanced processes and improve productivity, today announced significant market share gains across a number of product categories in 2020, as recently reported by VLSI, an independent research and analytics firm.

In a year when industry spending on Semiconductor Capital Equipment was up 19 percent, revenue from MKS’ Semiconductor Market grew almost 50 percent, driven by significant share gains across its critical vacuum subsystems portfolio, led by RF Power Supplies and Remote Plasma solutions.  While MKS gained more than 2 percent of share in total Critical Subsystems, MKS delivered an impressive almost 10 percent of share gain in the RF Power Supplies segment, driven by multiyear investments in RF Power technology for leading edge semiconductor processing.  In addition, MKS gained over 6 percent of share in Remote Plasma Sources, which are utilized in traditional chamber cleaning and enable the most demanding on wafer deposition processes.  MKS also gained share in other critical vacuum subsystems, such as Pressure Gauges and Valves.

“We are very pleased with our significant market share gains in 2020, which are a testament to our unique Surround the Chamber^® strategy, our operational excellence, and our deep commitment to innovation and accelerating customer roadmaps,” said John T.C. Lee, President and CEO of MKS. “Over the last five years, we have made sizeable and focused investments in our RF Power business, and this has culminated into key design wins that are fueling our market share gains.  As a result, we are now essentially tied for the number one market share position for RF Power Supplies, according to the independent VLSI report.”

The MKS RF Generator portfolio enables the most challenging processes in memory chip production. As the vertical structure in memory chips have scaled to unprecedented levels, so too have the requirements for RF Generators, where power levels have increased greater than 10-fold over the last five years.  At the same time, the need for ever more precise delivery of this power has required the use of MKS’ unique control algorithms, an innovative combination of capabilities which has given MKS a competitive advantage.