Applied aims for $1 billion sales in China, plans Beijing training center
By Mark LaPedus
Semiconductor Business News
(03/29/01 05:30 a.m. PST)
BEIJING -- In a move to expand its business in China, Applied Materials Inc. plans to establish a chip-equipment training center in Beijing this year.
The new center will help boost Applied's service and support operations in China, said Rong Ling Chen, deputy general manager of the company's China subsidiary. Earlier this week, during the Semicon China trade show here, a top executive from Applied Materials estimated that China's semiconductor capital equipment market would grow five times to reach $5 billion by 2005.
The new training center is part of Applied's latest efforts to capture a major chuck of the expanding market in China. In fact, Applied's own equipment sales in China will soon reach the $1 billion mark from just $100 million in 2000, said David N.K. Wang, vice president of Applied, in a presentation at the trade show.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Applied entered the China market in 1984 and now has 175 employees in the country. The wafer fab equipment giant has sales and support offices in four major cities--Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Wuxi. |
