Chip-equipment orders to exceed projections
By Mark LaPedus
Silicon Strategies
01/09/2004, 3:15 PM ET
MINNEAPOLIS--Orders for semiconductor capital equipment are projected to be stronger than expected for the current and past quarters, according to a report from US Bancorp Piper Jaffray.
"Recent checks would lead us to believe that near-term orders growth could be significantly higher," said Steve O'Rourke, who watches the market for the investment banking firm, in the report. "Expectations are for 25 percent orders growth in the December quarter and upwards of 20 percent orders growth in the March quarter."
Orders are not only coming from tier one chip makers, but also the second tier as well. "OEMs have seen order activity from Chartered Semiconductor, Oki, Ricoh, Rohm, and Hynix, to name a few," he said. "We anticipate this to continue into 2004."
There could be some major challenges for chip-equipment vendors. "We note that managing an orders ramp is difficult, and that it is very common to show a substantial quarterly spike; should this occur, we would expect it in the March quarter," he said. |
