Chip equipment '06 sales to rise 23% -VLSI Research
Thu May 25, 2006
AMSTERDAM, May 25 (Reuters) - Sales of machines to make semiconductors will rise much faster in 2006 than initially forecast due to strong demand for electronic goods such as mobile phones, a market research group said on Thursday.
Worldwide sales of chipmaking equipment are expected to rise to $62.8 billion in 2006, up 23.2 percent from 2005, against initial forecasts for a 13 percent increase, according to U.S. chip market research group VLSI Research.
The increase in the forecast was prompted by strong first-quarter equipment sales of $15 billion, 20 percent more than the prior quarter and 9.5 percent above the year-ago period.
Due to underinvestment in 2005, chip makers are now scrambling to get their hands on new equipment, as witnessed by a sharp order increase at ASML, the world's biggest chip lithography machine maker.
ASML said earlier this week that orders in the second quarter would rise 40 percent from the first quarter, up sharply from a forecast last month of flat order intake.
But VLSI Research warned that the surge in investment may be too much and that a correction loomed in the second half of the year.
The ratio of investment in equipment to sales of chips is running at 31 percent this year, which means that for every dollar of revenues, 31 cents are being invested. This is well above the healthy investment ratio of 20 percent, VLSI Research said. |
