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To: orkrious who wrote (20319)	12/3/1998 10:46:00 AM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 25960

ASML still sees opportunity to gain on Japan's litho suppliers semibiznews.com A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 8:30 a.m. EST/5:30 a.m. PST, 12/3/98 By Will Wade TOKYO--ASM Lithography claims it has already bypassed Canon Inc. for the No. 2 spot in the world's lithography market, and now the Dutch company expects to continue taking business away form its Japanese competitors in the year ahead. The sluggish economy and weak semiconductor market in Japan is hindering ASML's attempts to penetrate the country's market, but is also helping boost its global market share by limiting the sales of its competition, according to company managers interviewed here during the Semicon Japan equipment trade show. Evert Polak, vice president of marketing, predicted that ASML will see its share of the total lithography market increase to about 28% this year, up a few points from its 1997 rank of 25%. At the same time, top lithography vendor Nikon Corp. is expecting to see its stepper revenues decline, with flat sales of deep ultra-violet systems and falling sales of i-line systems. Kiwamu Koizumi, manger of Nikon's sales system group, said the company expects to ship about 200 DUV systems this year, roughly the same as it sold in 1997. However, with fewer sales of the older i-line tools and lower prices for the existing DUV technology, Nikon's total revenued will be lower, according to Koizumi. ASML's Polak predicted that Nikon's market share could slip to some 40% this year, down from about 44% in 1997. With the current state of the Japanese market, Nikon's Koizumi has no confidence that 1999 will see stronger sales. He said, "1998 will probably turn out to be better than 1999, but we hope to see a better market in the next century." Polak said ASML has almost no presence in Japan, partly due to the weak market and also due to the dominant role of Canon and Nikon in this country. However, ASML has been securing sales in the rest of the world, and the company is now looking to increase its share in this country. "The Japanese market is not easy to penetrate, and the business situation doesn't help," Polak said. However, he said ASML may see some Japanese sales in the near future, and added that the company has recently closed a deal in Korea. Both countries have been forced to cut back capital spending this year as a result of the Asian economic situation, although most analysts and executives agree that lithography systems are very high on the shortlist of where to allocate what little capital funds do exist. "Not being a Japanese company makes it harder to do business here. We have to put more on the plate than a Japanese supplier might have to do in order to please a customer," Polak said. "However, we see our chances moving up in the Japanese market."