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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (4716)	1/3/2003 1:11:17 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

IC-equipment market to grow 10% in '03, says Investec By Mark LaPedus Semiconductor Business News (01/03/03 12:31 p.m. EST) SAN JOSE--The semiconductor equipment industry is expected to grow by 10% or more in 2003 over 2002, thanks in part to a slight rebound in capital spending for the year, according to a report from Investec Inc. here today. Worldwide capital spending for the semiconductor industry is expected to hit $28.7 million in 2003, up 8% over 2003, according to Investec, an investment banking firm based in New York. Memory makers, especially those in Japan, are the most aggressive in terms of capital spending for 2003, said Timothy Summers, who tracks the fab-equipment market for Investec. “Most of the increase in capital spending will come from Japan and select other firms,” Summers said. Although the majority of DRAM suppliers continue to report large losses, capital expenditure budgets in this sector for 2003 will show a 25% increase over this year's levels. That compares with a relatively anemic 4% increase for the rest of the chip industry, according to iSuppli Corp. of El Segundo, Calif. (see Nov. 28, 2002 story ). The uptick in capital spending is welcomed news for the slumping semiconductor-equipment industry, which has experienced a severe downturn for the last two years. Losses, layoffs, and lack of orders have rocked suppliers of both equipment and materials (see Dec. 28, 2002 story ). “If capital spending increases by 8%, we should see the semiconductor equipment industry grow by 10% or more in 2003,” Summers said. “For the semiconductor equipment industry, the forecast is flat-to-slightly up growth in the first quarter [of 2003], and for subsequent quarters, we expect to see accelerated growth,” he told SBN. “If we can get through the first quarter--and everything remains stable--then I think we're out of the woods,” he said. There are already some positive signs going into 2003. For example, orders at Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL) are expected to rise “sharply” in the first quarter of 2003, compared to the fourth quarter of 2002, he added.