SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES - SALE OF PRODUCT LINE (Details) (USD $)	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
Oct. 11, 2013	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012
Accounting Policies [Abstract]
Proceeds from sale of product line	$ 11,800,000affx_ProceedsFromSaleofProductLine		$ 0affx_ProceedsFromSaleofProductLine	$ 11,832,000affx_ProceedsFromSaleofProductLine	$ 0affx_ProceedsFromSaleofProductLine
Carrying value of assets sold	2,500,000us-gaap_AssetsHeldForSaleCurrent
Gain on sale of product line		$ 9,300,000affx_GainLossonSaleofProductLine	$ 0affx_GainLossonSaleofProductLine	$ 9,295,000affx_GainLossonSaleofProductLine	$ 0affx_GainLossonSaleofProductLine

Current assets (normally turning over within one year or one business cycle if longer) that are held for sale apart from normal operations and anticipated to be sold within one year.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 205

-SubTopic 20

-Section 45

-Paragraph 10

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6892542&loc=d3e1107-107759

Name:	us-gaap_AssetsHeldForSaleCurrent
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant