From: AMAT Conf....Customers are buying equipment for newer technologies using copper materials, smaller circuits, and larger silicon wafers, said Applied Materials CEO James Morgan.
Orders of more than $10 million came from 14 customers, down from 19 in the second quarter.
Chip capital spending has shifted to new technology and away from expanding total manufacturing capacity, said Joseph Bronson, chief financial officer for Applied Materials. Systems for the 0.15-micron or smaller manufacturing process generated 75 percent of orders, compared with 36 percent in the second quarter, Bronson said.
Revenue will not grow in the fourth quarter, said Joseph Bronson, chief financial officer for Applied Materials. The company expects to make a profit in the fourth quarter, but didn't provide a specific earnings target.
The company expects fourth-quarter orders overall, in dollar terms, to be about the same as in the third quarter. Orders should see "modest improvement" in early fiscal 2002, Bronson said. Some customers in the PC and wireless industries have indicated that demand has reached a bottom, Applied executives said. |
