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Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Gross Massachusetts tax research other tax credit carryforwards	$ 8,762us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAmount
Tax credit expiration period	2028
Gross unrecognized tax benefits excluding interest and penalties	19,610us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits	47,684us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits	40,674us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits	36,540us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefits
Net unrecognized tax benefit excluding interest and penalties that would impact effective tax rate	11,533us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsThatWouldImpactEffectiveTaxRate
Net benefit to income tax expense, excluding interest and penalties, due to discrete reserve releases	13,380us-gaap_TaxAdjustmentsSettlementsAndUnusualProvisions
Accrued interest on unrecognized tax benefits	578us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued	2,159us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued	1,571us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncomeTaxPenaltiesAndInterestAccrued
Unrecognized tax benefits related to various U.S. federal, state and foreign tax positions	134us-gaap_UnrecognizedTaxBenefitsIncreasesResultingFromPriorPeriodTaxPositions
Income tax examination, description	The Company is subject to examination by U.S. federal, state and foreign tax authorities. The United States Internal Revenue Service commenced an examination of the Company's U.S. federal tax filings for open tax years 2007 through 2009 during the quarter ended June 30, 2012.
Change in valuation allowance	(339)us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceDeferredTaxAssetChangeInAmount	(395)us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceDeferredTaxAssetChangeInAmount	1,022us-gaap_ValuationAllowanceDeferredTaxAssetChangeInAmount
Undistributed earnings in foreign subsidiaries	471,155us-gaap_UndistributedEarningsOfForeignSubsidiaries
Income tax holiday tax rate	9.00%mksi_IncomeTaxHolidayTaxRate	7.00%mksi_IncomeTaxHolidayTaxRate	10.00%mksi_IncomeTaxHolidayTaxRate
Other Operations [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax holiday tax rate	16.00%mksi_IncomeTaxHolidayTaxRate / us-gaap_ReasonablyPossibleSignificantChangeInUnrecognizedTaxBenefitsByItemAxis = mksi_OtherOperationsMember
Earliest Tax Year [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination period	2007
Open tax year	2011
Latest Tax Year [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination period	2009
Open tax year	2013
2015 [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
U.S. Federal capital loss carryforwards	59,275mksi_FederalCapitalLossCarryforwards / us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis = mksi_OperatingLossCarryforwardsExpiringTwoThousandFifteenMember
Net operating Loss	$ 9,869us-gaap_OperatingLossCarryforwards / us-gaap_TaxCreditCarryforwardAxis = mksi_OperatingLossCarryforwardsExpiringTwoThousandFifteenMember

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