Is the worm finally turning?
Lam Research more confident about March quarter
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Lam Research Corp.'s president and chief operating officer said on Monday that he is more confident that the chip-equipment makers' customer orders for the March quarter will match guidance than in recent quarters, citing orders from big-name chipmakers.
``The confidence factor for the March quarter is, I would say, stronger than what we might have had over the last couple of quarters,'' Stephen Newberry told investors at the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - news) technology conference here. ``The (order) book in the March quarter is made up of a stronger set of players, a more strategic set of players.''
Lam Research (NasdaqNM:LRCX - news), when it reported results on Jan. 24, said it expected orders for its fiscal third quarter of about $130 million.
``We'll end up booking more business this quarter than last quarter,'' Newberry said.
Newberry said that currently the company is seeing the most orders strength in the United States and Taiwan, noting that Japan continued to be weak and that Europe was still ``slow.''
While the semiconductor industry appears on track for a modest recovery in 2002 after its worst-ever global sales decline in 2001, it's still too soon to forecast any sort of strong rebound with any conviction or confidence, Newberry said.
``We're in that 'things are better than where they were but we don't know what's really going to happen over the next six months''' mode, Newberry said. ``We'll just have to wait and see.'' |
