Some more positive news also Joe.
Intel To Spend $5.4 Billion On Chip Gear
( 1/06/98; 10:28 a.m. EST)
By J. Robert Lineback, Semiconductor Business News
Intel is expected to increase its spending on
semiconductor capital equipment by 20 percent to
$5.4 billion in 1998 compared with $4.5 billion in
1997, said analyst Bill McClean, president of IC
Insights, during a forecast presentation at an executive
conference in Pebble Beach, Calif., Monday.
About 200 top executives attending the Industry
Strategy Symposium gasped when McClean disclosed
his projection of Intel's capital spending plans in 1998.
At $4.5 billion, Intel's spending on capital equipment
was about 20 percent of its 1997 sales, McClean
said, adding that the company's budget was about
what it should be for a company its size.
In 1997, the industry's second-largest capital spender
was Korea's LG Semicon, said McClean, who placed
the company's outlays at $2 billion compared with
$2.3 billion in 1996. The $20 billion figure represented
100 percent of LG Semicon's IC sales, McClean said.
"Another surprise was Siemens, which was ranked
No. 3 in 1997," McClean said. He also said he
estimated that the German chip maker spent $1.74
billion on capital equipment in 1997 compared with
$1.33 billion in 1996. Much of the 1997 spending was
on new DRAM capacity, he said.
In 1998, McClean said he expects Siemens to cut
back its spending, putting its budget at $1.3 billion. |
