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To: Road Walker who wrote (103160)	5/5/2000 8:00:00 PM
From: greenspirit	Respond to of 186894

John, interesting view on the future of silicon.... MAY 5, 2000 straitstimes.asia1.com.sg Chip industry 'not slowing down' Bumps in the business cycle will even out as chips are put to more uses, says Applied Materials chief By LEE SU SHYAN US ELECTRONICS giant Applied Materials sees growth for the next decade in the semiconductor industry. Chief executive officer James Morgan said this yesterday, refuting any claim that there was a slowdown in the semiconductor industry. "People have been so focused on the cycles," he said, adding that the spread of new applications for chips will help even out any fluctuations in the business cycle. Highlighting the findings of a recent study, he pointed out that semiconductor revenue in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to more than treble to US$88 billion (S$152.2 billion) in 2004 from US$26 billion last year. He said another study indicated that the wafer fab business would double to US$40.8 billion in 2004. On a visit to Singapore where the company has a sales and service centre, Mr Morgan said the semiconductor industry would benefit from "new drivers of growth". He cited these as the market for workstations and servers, fuelled by the spread of the Internet. Handphones and games devices are another growth factor. "Only 2 per cent of the world's population own a computer and less than 8 per cent own a handphone," he said. Applied Materials supplies wafer fabrication equipment and solutions to the semiconductor industry and its fortunes are aligned closely with the semiconductor industry's. Listed on Nasdaq, Applied Materials had a revenue of US$6.85 billion in the past year and had pumped US$2.7 billion into research and development. "We're beginning to see momentum in Asia," Mr Morgan said, adding that Applied Materials, as a market leader, was well positioned to benefit from this. He also expected increased growth for the company to come from chip manufacturers sourcing out maintenance of the chip equipment back to the manufacturer. Chartered Semiconductor is one of Applied's customers in Singapore. Equipment sales in South-east Asia reached US$350 million last year and Mr Morgan was optimistic about the future. He said: "We see sales doubling to reach between US$600 and US$800 million over the next year or so." In Singapore, plans are under way to double staffing and strengthen technical capability. Applied employs about 300 people in Singapore and plans to expand in Malaysia. Back to top