SEGMENT AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION - Revenue and Income (Loss) From Operations (Details) $ in Thousands	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2015 USD ($) segment business_unit	Dec. 31, 2014 USD ($)		Dec. 31, 2013 USD ($)
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Number of reportable segments | segment	2
Number of business units | business_unit	4
Revenue	$ 359,786	$ 349,019	[1]	$ 330,399	[1]
Gross Profit	229,241	205,861		181,038
Operating Segments [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	359,786	349,019		330,399
Operating Segments [Member] | Affymetrix Core [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	261,733	256,525		241,450
Gross Profit	168,526	155,786		144,160
Operating Segments [Member] | eBioscience [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	98,053	92,494		88,949
Gross Profit	$ 60,715	$ 50,075		$ 36,878

[1] The revenue by region for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 have been corrected from amounts previously reported.