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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (47016)	5/18/2001 5:41:43 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Applied's China fab bookings surge to $150 million in quarter Company expects sales in country to double or triple from last year By J. Robert Lineback Semiconductor Business News (05/18/01 16:49 p.m. EST) SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- China this year is turning into a real hot spot for Applied Materials Inc., despite the sharpest downturn ever in the semiconductor equipment history. The Santa Clara, Calif., company booked $150 million of new orders in China during what otherwise was a dismal second fiscal quarter, ended April 30. China represented more than 11% of Applied's new bookings in the fiscal second quarter. Overall, the company's orders were down 44% to $1.35 billion in fiscal Q2 from the prior three-month period (see May 15 story). Applied Materials' net sales in China totaled $100 million in 2000, or about 1% of the company's worldwide revenues. The company expects to double or triple its revenues in China during 2001, said executive vice president David N.K. Wang, who is in Applied's Office of the President. "With progress of investments from overseas [in China's new wafer fabs], we believe in the next five years--2005--we should be able to achieve 5% of total revenues in China," said Wang, during a conference call with analysts this week. He indicated that China's growth could be ahead of schedule with the emergence of locally-based chip manufacturers in Shanghai, such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. Applied did not see much growth at all in China during its first 15 years in the country. The equipment supplier set up its first office in Beijing in 1984, and Applied eventually expanded its infrastructure to four offices, but now chip-fabrication facilities are taking off. Applied has stationed about 100 of its 175 workers in China in Shanghai--the hottest spot for the chip industry in China, if not the entire world at this time. "In terms of competition, I think we are far, far ahead of anybody else because we are the only one in the [fab] equipment industry with a well established infrastructure," said Wang, referring to Applied's 17 long years in China. "For others to compete, it will take a few years to build infrastructure there," he told analysts. And Applied is also aiming to pump up awareness in its corporate brand in China and the entire Asia-Pacific region. It has earmarked about $30 million for advertising on TV and other mass-media outlets worldwide with a special emphasis on Asia. Applied had planned to launch the mass media campaign in 2000 but it decided to hold off because of the amount of "noise" being generated in the booming high-tech industry, said James C. Morgan, chairman and CEO of Applied. But now things are different with Internet ".com" companies and other high-tech companies pulling back in newspaper and TV advertising. "We felt this was a good time to take advantage of the opportunity, particularly in Asia where we are trying to hire the best and brightest," Morgan told analysts during Tuesday's conference.