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Non-Tech : Kirk's Market Thoughts -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerome who wrote (1033)	4/10/2014 12:55:06 PM
From: Kirk ©	Respond to of 26629

You would think the acquisition of Novellus had more to do with moving up.... Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment spending down 11.5% in 2013, says Gartner Worldwide semiconductor capital equipment spending totaled US$33.8 billion in 2013, an 11.5% decline from 2012, according to Gartner. Wafer-level manufacturing equipment demand performed above the market with strength in lithography and associated processes, while back-end manufacturing segments fared significantly worse than average. "With this as a backdrop, capital spending was muted and dominated by a few top players," said Klaus-Dieter Rinnen, managing VP at Gartner. "A revival of memory-related spending during the year was not enough to stem the decline in equipment sales. Despite increased foundry investments, logic-related spending was a dampening force. Consequently, manufacturing equipment sales saw slow, sequential quarterly growth, and a fourth-quarter sales explosion was not enough to stop the second straight year of decline." Applied Materials held onto the number one spot based on its relative strength in deposition and etch. Relative strength in lithography (albeit with limited sales in extreme ultraviolet [EUV]) helped ASML to retain the number two position. Lam Research moved into the number three spot due to its strong performance in etch and deposition. Tokyo Electron, just like other companies headquartered in Japan, was impacted by the significant decline in the yen-to-US-dollar exchange rate, as well as an unfavorable customer buying pattern, the firm said. "Notable is the further rise of the sales share of the top 10 vendors, now at 70%, compared with 68% in 2012. The top five vendors command nearly 57% of the total market, up five points from the prior year," said Rinnen. "The advance of these large players symbolizes losses of smaller players in the competitive race and an increasing market dependence on a few vendors in the equipment market." Wafer-level manufacturing outperformed the market in 2013, on relative strength in dry etch, lithography, manufacturing automation and deposition. Spending was selective, focused on upgrades and latest-technology buys with little addition of capacity. Logic spending focused on preparing for 20nm/14nm production. Only a few subsegments managed to expand, most notably, steppers in lithography, nontube chemical vapor deposition, conductor etch, rapid thermal processing and furnaces, and select process control segments (such as patterned wafer inspection, defect review and classification). In the back-end segments, all major categories experience significant declines. The fourth quarter of 2013 was particularly slow as major semiconductor assembly and test services (SATS) vendors pushed out orders due to market uncertainty. Thursday 10 April 2014 News website: www.digitimes.com

To: Jerome who wrote (1033)	4/14/2014 12:05:04 PM
From: Kirk ©	1 Recommendation Recommended By larryjoe Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 26629

Good morning. This may help explain why these social network companies are so valuable... Facebook is reportedly close to receiving approval from Ireland's central bank to become an "e-money" institution that would enable users to store money on the social network, use it to pay other members and exchange cash with them. The move could help Facebook ( FB) boost its presence in emerging markets, as it would provide remittance services in which migrant workers send money home to their families. If they can offer lower "swipe fees" than Visa, MA and AmExp, that is an even bigger pie in the US and other developed economies. I figured out why Starbucks promotes their card with so many free deals to use it.... the free coffee is much cheaper to use their cards is much cheaper than a swipe fee plus a commission to use a bank debit card.