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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tito L. Nisperos Jr. who wrote (32489)	9/15/1999 2:45:00 PM
From: Jeffrey D	Respond to of 70976

The future, according to David Wang. Jeff Applied Materials Sees Chipmakers' Spending Doubling by 2003 Applied Materials Sees Chipmakers' Spending Doubling by 2003 Taipei, Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The semiconductor industry will double its spending on manufacturing equipment and facilities within five years as the industry rebounds from last year's slump, according to Applied Materials Inc., the world's No.1 supplier of computer chip equipment. Total global investment should rise to $57.2 billion in 2003 from $30.0 billion this year, said David Wang, a senior vice president of the Santa Clara, California company. In 1998, amid a supply glut and the Asian recession, the industry's capital spending totaled $28.2 billion. ``The future is extremely bright,' Wang said. ``Everyone in the industry is prospering.' Rising demand for computers, mobile phones and other high tech products is pumping up earnings of chip companies and their shares. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which tracks 16 U.S. companies involved in chip design, manufacture, distribution and sales, surged 64 percent so far this year while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 19 percent. As a geographical unit, Taiwan, South Korea, China and Malaysia will post the fastest growth in capital spending. They expect to invest $21.5 billion -- or 37.6 percent of the world total -- in 2003, compared with this year's $9 billion, or 35 percent, Wang said. North America, the world's No.1 producer and consumer of chips, will see its spending rise to $20.4 billion in 2003 from $10.8 billion this year. Taiwan, the fourth-largest chipmaker, should invest $4.7 billion in 1999, about one-fifth of the global spending of $25 billion. Over the next decade, the island's chip companies plan to spend more than $67 billion, Wang said. ``Nowhere else have we seen such tremendous growth,' he said. Taiwan's 200-plus chip companies are expected to increase their sales to $43 billion by 2005 and $60 billion by 2010. Their share of the estimated $140 billion worldwide sales this year is expected to be $10.5 billion. The key to Taiwan's huge growth lies in ``foundries, a very successful and special business model' pioneered by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in 1987, Wang said. TSMC and Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp. control two- thirds of the foundry market, making chips that carry the brand names of clients such as Motorola Inc. and ATI Technologies Inc.