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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials
AMAT 256.41+1.1%Dec 19 9:30 AM EST

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To: Ian@SI who wrote (47303)5/29/2001 2:20:06 PM
From: Katherine Derbyshire  Read Replies (1) of 70976
 
I'm saying that Bill McClean said that the chipmakers have spent $250B on capex in the last five years. (I haven't checked, but it makes sense as a ballpark number, $50B/yr x 5 years). At the same time, the annual sales for the chip industry are only $60B/yr greater than they were five years ago. (SIA's web page reports total sales of about $144 billion in 1995, vs $204 billion in 2000)

So yes, Ian, that's a $250B one-time charge to fight over $60B in additional recurring revenue.

In essence, McClean is arguing that the chipmakers are spending more on capacity than they are earning back in market growth, thereby contributing to a persistent overcapacity problem. And yes, overcapacity will, sooner or later, put pressure on chip company margins, and therefore on the equipment industry. Anyone care to put together a chart tracking gross margins for chipmakers (All SOX companies? All SIA members?) over the last few years?

Katherine
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