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Technology Stocks : Lam Research (LRCX, NASDAQ): To the Insiders -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jong Hyun Yoo who wrote (3680)	11/25/1999 11:59:00 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 5867

Thu, 25 Nov 1999, 11:57am EST Chip Equipment Sales Almost Doubled in September, Third Consecutive Gain By Daniel Tilles Worldwide Chip Equipment Sales Rise for Third Month (Update3) (Rewrites 3rd paragraph; updates shares in 7th paragraph.) Tokyo, Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Worldwide sales of equipment used to make computer chips almost doubled in September, the third straight gain after 15 months of decline, further evidence of a recovery in the global chip market, an industry group said. Chip equipment sales soared 90 percent in September from the same month a year earlier to $2.90 billion, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said. Demand is rising again as Samsung Electronics Co. and other large chipmakers expand production. Equipment makers such as Netherlands-based ASM Lithography NV are rolling out new products to help chip companies beef up capacity. ``This is a transition year where the industry returns to its historical growth levels,' said Marisa Baldo, an analyst with SG Securities in Paris. ``Next year will approach the maximum for production capacity, but the risk of entering another period of overcapacity will not occur in the short term.' In Europe, shares for chipmakers and chip equipment manufacturers rose following the Japanese report. Shares in STMicroelectronics NV, rose 7.6 euros, or 7 percent, to 117.7 euros ($120). ``ST has the ability to increase capacity quickly because they anticipated the recovery and have factories ready to go online,' said Baldo, who rates the shares ``strong buy' with a price target of 130. ``Some other companies will not be ready to increase production next year. ``On the demand side, ST is in strong business sectors with very bright growth prospects.' Royal Philips Electronics NV shares rose 4.6 euros, or 4 percent, to 116.05 euros, while ASM Lithography Holding NV, the world's fifth-biggest chip-equipment maker, saw its shares gain as much as 5.2 euros, or 6.4 percent, to 86.2 euros. ``Next year we should see further price increases,' said Baldo. The gain in September's sales also reflects increases in spending on equipment by Intel Corp., the world's largest chipmaker, Motorola Inc., the world's No. 2 producer of cellular phones, and Texas Instruments Inc., the No. 1 manufacturer of chips for cellular phones. Orders for chip equipment are getting a boost as companies retool factories to make chips with smaller circuit feature sizes. Smaller chip feature sizes allow more information to be packed onto chips, faster and smaller chips, and lower power consumption. In addition, chipmakers and home video game makers are teaming up to develop and make chips for future generations of video games and digital household electronics, creating new demand for equipment. Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp. in March agreed to spend 120 billion yen ($1.15 billion) to make chips for PlayStation 2, the successor to the best-selling video game player, while Nintendo Co. is joining with International Business Machines Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. to develop the successor to its Nintendo 64 game player. That's set to propel the earnings of many of the world's biggest 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. Chipmaking-equipment sales figures tend to lag order numbers by up to half a year. The following table breaks down world chipmaking-equipment sales by machinery category. Units are millions of dollars. The percentage changes compare cumulative totals for the April-September 1999 period with the same period a year earlier. ********************************************************* Equipment Sept. April-Sept. Cumul. Sales Y-o-Y Change ******************************************************* Mask/Reticle Man. Equip. 42.261 -41.6% Wafer Man. Equip. 23.249 +5.8% Wafer Processing Equip. 1,783.507 +21.9% Assembly Equipment 233.519 +45.8% Inspection Equip. 744.935 +24.6% Related Equipment 80.876 +0.4% ********************************************************* TOTAL 2,908.347 +20.5% quote.bloomberg.com