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

To: Fred Levine who wrote (9045)	2/26/2004 1:30:55 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Japan Jan chip equipment orders jump 113 pct yr/yr Thursday February 26, 3:01 am ET TOKYO, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Orders for Japanese semiconductor equipment jumped 113 percent in January from a year earlier, an industry group said on Thursday, as brisk demand for chips used in consumer digital electronics spurred chip makers to invest. It was the eighth consecutive year-on-year rise and the fourth successive month in which orders have more than doubled, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) said. However, the growth rate was down from December's 132.1 percent and total orders, at 138.28 billion yen ($1.27 billion), were up by only 0.4 percent from December's 137.73 billion yen. Orders in January were also well below November's 151.14 billion yen, which was the highest total in nearly three years. "We are seeing a continuation of very strong growth above 100 percent, although we should note that these figures are being compared to a bottoming-out stage of orders one year ago," an SEAJ official said. "The strong orders trend looks set to continue for a while." Earlier this month, chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron Ltd (Tokyo:8305.T - News) more than quadrupled its full-year net profit outlook, citing higher spending by chip makers ramping up production to meet growing demand for semiconductors used in digital goods. The book-to-bill ratio, a key indicator of industry health that measures new orders against sales, was 1.38 in January, down from 1.62 in December but still indicating that new orders outpaced shipments for the ninth straight month. North American makers of chip equipment are also seeing an increase in orders, according to industry data released last week. California-based Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International said orders received by North American chip gear manufacturers jumped 66 percent year-on-year to $1.22 billion in January, marking the sixth straight monthly rise. ($1=108.92 Yen)