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

To: Gottfried who wrote (54193)	10/16/2001 11:14:44 AM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Philips posted a worse-than-expected third-quarter loss, but the Dutch electronics giant's shares gained after it gave a modestly optimistic outlook for its key semiconductor division. interactive.wsj.com ... In a telephone conference after the release of the third-quarter results, Philips Chief Financial Officer Jan Hommen said he expects its semiconductor sales to rise slightly in the fourth quarter from the third-quarter level of 898 million euros and that he expects Philips' chip plants to operate at 40% to 45% of capacity in the fourth quarter, up from 36% in the third quarter. Though he termed the expected fourth-quarter improvement "seasonal" and not "structural," Mr. Hommen said that declining inventories of products that use semiconductors, especially mobile-phone inventories, were a positive signal for a recovery in the chip sector around the middle of 2002. ...

To: Gottfried who wrote (54193)	10/16/2001 1:00:35 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

300-mm investments remain relatively strong despite downturn, says report Semiconductor Business News (10/16/01 12:09 p.m. EST) NEW TRIPOLI, Pa. -- While semiconductor capital spending is in down sharply from last year, investments in 300-mm wafer processing tools are expected to grow 39% in 2001 to $11.4 billion compared to $8.2 billion in 2000, said a new report from The Information Network here. The report, released today, predicts that the growth in 300-mm equipment purchases will slow to an increase of 16.7%, reaching $13.3 billion worldwide in 2002. The report said revenues for 300-mm systems will represent 48.2% of all frontend fab tools in 2002. "Some of this equipment has been and will be bridge tools, able to process 200-mm and 300-mm wafers," said analyst Robert N. Castellano, president of the New Tripoli-based research firm. "The strong growth of 300-mm fabs and fab equipment in 2001, during a precipitous drop in the overall semiconductor industry, is due to the substantial savings of up to 40% that could be realized by 300-mm chip production," Castellano said. "That trend will continue in 2002 as chip manufacturers move to smaller feature sizes to remain competitive and build on a 300-mm platform to further reduce costs." While the report indicates that 300-mm budgets are leading the pack, some vendors have reported delays in purchases and cancellations of some orders during recent months. But most suppliers and analysts believe the 300-mm movement will gain strength once chip makers resume investments in production facilities. A new forecast from the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade group now shows worldwide spending on chip production systems falling 35% in 2001 after surging 87% in 2000. In the first half of 2001, chip equipment revenues were down 16.1% to $18.3 billion compared to $21.8 billion in the same six-month period last year, said SEMI during a press conference today at the Semicon Southwest trade show in Austin, Tex. SEMI is currently predicting 11% growth in semiconductor equipment spending next year.