Global chip equipment July sales +41.6 pct yr/yr
Thu Sep 14, 2006 4:05am ET
TOKYO, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Global sales of chip-making equipment in July jumped 41.6 percent from a year earlier, with demand expected to stay strong, an industry group said on Thursday.
Sales of tools used to make semiconductors rose worldwide to $3.91 billion in July, with sales growing over 50 percent in South Korea and Taiwan, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) said.
Orders worldwide for chip equipment in July rose roughly 60 percent from a year earlier, SEAJ spokesman Toshihisa Kuno said. A rise in orders is good for revenues three to 6 months ahead, when the orders are usually filled.
"Sales in Europe are down compared with 10 years ago, but otherwise the numbers are all very high," he said.
Consumers' appetite for mobile phones, digital music players and flat screen TVs is fuelling semiconductor demand and prompting chip makers to ramp up production capacity and buy more chip-making equipment.
The SEAJ compiles the monthly data with another industry group, California-based Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).
Major producers of chip-making equipment include Advantest Corp. (6857.T: Quote, NEWS, Research), Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (8035.T: Quote, NEWS, Research).
Following are July chip gear sales figures (in million dollars, year-on-year percentage change in parentheses):
Value year/year Japan 890.916 (+17.7) N. America 587.428 (+16.8) Europe 281.938 (+15.0) S. Korea 784.775 (+59.6) Taiwan 730.556 (+76.7) China 358.771 (+190.4) Other 277.222 (+21.0) TOTAL 3,911.605 (+41.6) |
