Global chip equipment sales down 19.7% m/m in April
Monday June 14, 4:02 am ET
TOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) - Global sales of chip-making equipment fell 19.74 percent in April compared with March to $3.23 billion, an industry group said on Monday, as sales fell sharply in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
The April figure was up 117.7 percent from a year earlier, however, marking the ninth straight month of year-on-year rises, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) said in a preliminary release.
Sales in Japan fell nearly 40 percent in April from the previous month, although a drop was expected given that Japanese equipment makers redoubled efforts to book revenues in March, the final month of the business year for most Japanese firms.
Reflecting strong sales in Japan and Taiwan, global sales of chip-making equipment had surged to $4.024 billion yen in March, the highest in over three years.
Semiconductor makers have been purchasing new equipment to meet growing demand for chips used in digital cameras and other digital electronics. Rising sales of personal computers and mobile phones have also boosted chip demand.
Sales of chip equipment dropped 59 percent month-on-month in April in South Korea and fell 30 percent in Taiwan, but both regions posted solid gains compared to April last year.
Sales in North America and Europe, meanwhile, recorded gains on both a month-on-month and year-on-year basis.
Still, the overall month-on-month fall in April could add to growing worries among investors that demand for semiconductors and chip equipment could begin to slow in the near term.
Advantest Corp (Tokyo:6857.T - News) President Toshio Maruyama told Reuters last month in an interview that orders for the company's chip-testing machines may have already peaked in the January-March quarter when they hit a three-year high.
Maruyama also warned that Advantest's sales might fall in the next business year.
The Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan issued the SEMI report. SEMI is based in California.
Following are April chip equipment sales figures, in millions of dollars. Figures in parentheses are percentage changes from a year earlier and a month earlier:
y/y m/m
Japan 621.90 (+131.32) (-37.47)
N. America 464.56 (+20.85) (+3.57)
Europe 334.38 (+44.15) (+1.90)
S. Korea 269.75 (+19.03) (-59.10)
Taiwan 634.03 (+322.88) (-30.18)
China 303.41 (not applicable) (+21.50)
Others 601.73 (+171.22) (+38.16)
OVERALL 3,229.76 (+117.69) (-19.74) |
