Worldwide sales of microchip- making equipment produced in Japan will rise 19.9 percent per
year on average in the four years through March 2003, reflecting
growing demand for microchips used in home video game machines,
industry figures showed.
Sales of Japanese chipmaking equipment will surge to 1.7
trillion yen ($14.8 billion) by March 31, 2003, from 823.3
billion yen in the year ended March 31, as chipmakers worldwide
increase production capacity, said the Semiconductor Association
of Japan. Sales for the year through March 2000 will climb 14.1
percent on year to 939 billion yen, reversing the 37.6 percent
plunge of the previous year, it said.
Demand for equipment is rising as chipmakers such as Micron
Technology Inc. of the U.S., the world's No. 2 computer memory
chipmaker, and Taiwan companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp., the world's
largest third-party chipmakers, add equipment to boost capacity.
''Rising demand for equipment since early this year shows
companies are investing more in chips for game machines,'' the
association said in a report. ''This is the first time devices
other than those used to make dynamic random-access memory chips
led the investment in equipment.''
Below is a list of sales the association forecast for the
four years through March 31, 2003, shown in billions of yen.
Global sales for chipmaking equipment produced in Japan:
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FY 1998 FY 1999 FY 2000 FY 2001 FY 2002
823.3 939.0 1,115.5 1,396.7 1,701.5 on-
yr Change -37.6 14.1 18.8 25.2 21.8
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Domestic sales of chipmaking equipment:
*****************************************************************
FY 1998 FY 1999 FY 2000 FY 2001 FY 2002
444.5 477.3 536.4 639.7 739.5
on-yr Change -40.3 7.4 12.4 19.3 15.6
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