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Thu, 29 Oct 1998, 12:30am EST
World Sales of Microchip Making Equipment Slumped 43% in August on Year
World Chipmaking Equipment Sales Slumped 43% in August on Year
Tokyo, Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Worldwide sales of equipment
used to make microchips slumped 43.3 percent in August on year,
the fourth straight month of decline, as cuts in spending on
equipment by Japanese and South Korean semiconductor makers took
their toll, industry figures showed.
That's hurting the bottom lines of many of the world's
largest producers of microchip-making equipment, such as Applied
Materials Inc. and Lam Research Corp. in the U.S., ASM
Lithography Holding NV of the Netherlands and Tokyo Electron
Ltd., Nikon Corp. and Advantest Corp. in Japan.
Worldwide sales of chipmaking equipment totaled $1.167
billion in August, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of
Japan said. Equipment orders, which lag sales by several months,
fell in August for the ninth straight month.
The drop in sales reflects cuts in spending on equipment by
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest maker of computer
memory chips, and Japan's six largest chipmakers -- NEC Corp.,
Hitachi Ltd., Toshiba Corp., Fujitsu Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric
Corp. and Oki Electric Industry Co.
Sales slowed in August in all regional markets tracked by
the association.
Sales in the U.S., the largest single market for such
equipment with more than a third of sales worldwide, totaled $419
million in August. Cumulative U.S. sales for the April-August
period were 14.4 percent lower than the same period a year
earlier. Sales had surged 39.4 percent in the year ended March
31.
Japan, the second-largest market for semiconductor-making
equipment, had sales of $246 million in August. Cumulative sales
for April through August were down 29.1 percent from a year
earlier, reflecting cuts in spending on equipment by NEC and
Japan's other chipmakers.
South Korean sales plummeted to $72.6 million during the
month and have tumbled a cumulative 44.0 percent since April, a
sign of the impact of the won's sharp depreciation, which has
cast the economy into its worst recession in more than 50 years.
Sales of microchip-making equipment in South Korea fell 15.8
percent in the year ended March 31, the largest decline of any
market tracked by the SEAJ.
European sales totaled $173 million in August, and sales for
April through August were up 15.5 percent, the only regional
market to show growth.
Chipmaking-equipment sales figures tend to lag order numbers
by up to half a year.
The following table gives a breakdown for total worldwide
sales of semiconductor-making machinery, in millions of dollars.
The percentage changes compare cumulative April-August
totals with figures for the same period a year ago.
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Equipment August Y-o-Y Change
Sales (April-August)
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Mask/Reticle Man. Equip. 38.194 42.2%
Wafer Man. Equip. 8.026 -67.9%
Wafer Processing Equip. 656.530 -16.3%
Assembly Equipment 112.010 -24.3%
Inspection Equip. 302.895 -13.5%
Related Equipment 48.918 -25.1%
***********************************************************
TOTAL 1,166,572 -15.8%
***********************************************************
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