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

To: BWAC who wrote (5743)	2/27/2003 8:20:21 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Japan Jan chip equipment orders up 9.3 pct mth/mth Thursday February 27, 3:01 am ET TOKYO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Orders for Japanese semiconductor equipment rose 9.3 percent in January from December to 64.8 billion yen ($553.3 million), up 110.6 percent from the same month a year earlier, an industry group said on Thursday. But the book-to-bill ratio, a key indicator of industry health that measures the amount of new orders against the amount of sales booked, slipped to 1.05 in January from 1.09, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said. Orders from Japanese chip makers, including imported equipment, rose to 39.5 billion yen in January, up 9.5 percent from December and a 154.2 percent gain from depressed year-ago levels. The book-to-bill ratio, however, slipped to 0.96 from 1.07. The chip equipment sector has been struggling to recover after its worst downturn ever in 2001 and lingering weakness last year. Tokyo Electron Ltd (Tokyo:8035.T - News), Japan's largest chip equipment maker and the world's second largest, said early this month it had pushed back by one quarter its forecast for the start of a recovery in orders, now expected at mid-year. Chip equipment orders tend to precede actual sales by one to two quarters. Japan's big chip makers have begun boosting plans for spending on new chip-making equipment after sharply curtailing capital investments during the downturn of the past two years. Also boosting the outlook for equipment makers are aggressive spending plans by South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co (KSE:05930.KS - News), the world's second-largest chip maker, although industry leader Intel Corp (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) and Taiwan's big chip makers are scaling back. ($1=117.10 yen)